One of the major challenges of sustainable development is the
interdisciplinary nature of the issues involved. To this end, a team of
conservation biologists, hunters, tourist operators, ranchers, wildlife
and land managers, ecologists, veterinarians and economists was convened
to discuss whether wildlife outside protected areas in Africa can be
conserved in the face of agricultural expansion and human population
growth. They reached the unequivocal - if controversial - conclusion
that wildlife can be an economic asset, especially in the African
savannas, if this wildlife can be sustainably utilized through safari
hunting and tourism.
Using the African savannas as an example, Wildlife Conservation by
Sustainable Use shows that in many instances sustainable wildlife
utilization comprises an even better form of land use than livestock
keeping. Even when population pressure is high, as in agricultural areas
or in humid zones, and wild animal species can pose a serious cost to
agriculture, these costs are mainly caused by small species with a low
potential for safari hunting.
Although ranching has a very low rate of return and is hardly ever
profitable, the biggest obstacle to the model of sustainable wildlife
use outlined in Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use is from
unfair competition from the agricultural sector, such as subsidies and
lack of taxation, resulting in market distortion for wildlife
utilization. This book thus gives valuable evidence for a different way
of working, providing arguments for removing such distortions and
thereby facilitating financially sound land use and making it a
rationally sound choice to conserve wildlife outside protected areas.
The expert team of authors, most of whom came together at a workshop to
thrash out the ideas that were then developed into the various chapters,
has written a superb account of recent research on this complex subject,
resulting in a book that is a major contribution to our understanding of
sustainable use of land. The important conclusion is that wildlife
conservation can be possible for landholders and local communities if
they have a financial interest in protecting wildlife on their lands.
