Wildlife conservation continues to face the acute challenges of poaching, habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflict. Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila said due to Namibia's successful conservation methods, which have led to increased wildlife populations outside national parks, human-wildlife conflict has increased. "The situation is worsened by the current disparities in rainfall as well as the growing human population," he said in his end-of-year message. According to Nghitila, co-existence with wild animals - though beneficial in terms of employment creation and income generation - also comes at a cost. "We continue to record reports of conflict situations leading to crop damage, livestock losses, injuries to people and, in unfortunate circumstances, even death."