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Sands. Have a look at the ballooning “wilderness” share block developments in some private nature reservesadjacent to KNP with, more often than not, hundreds of occupants.Who do you think is more “consumptive” and whose carbon footprint on the environment is greater?The hunters, who hunt and kill a very low percentage of mature male specimens of the varied gamepopulations; who use relatively rustic and unobtrusive camps, a couple of vehicles, and pay dearly for theprivilege of some weeks of wilderness solitude) – or the eco-tourists, residing in luxury air-conditionedlodges, the swimming pool in front of the door, a generator creating 24 hours of electricity, twice a day freshtowels and linen and exotic food and fine champagne on the table.?Think of all the water pumped and used, of the refuse dumps behind the scenes, of the diesel burned, ofthe hundreds of acres of wilderness converted into manicured “romantic bush camps”. On game drives,vehicles hooked on radio networks are speeding to “Big Five” sightings, in many cases lining up to wait theirturn, following and disturbing hunting predators to get that grand photograph. Our eco-tourist income comesat a high environmental price. Non-consumptive? I’ve heard better jokes!Eco-tourism is consumptive – the consumption pattern is just different.With this article I am addressing all hunters and conservationists of good intentions. We need a civilizeddebate. It makes no conservation sense to continue the polemic consumptive/non-consumptive usecontroversy. This controversy is rooted on false premises – a fact eagerly exploited by those on both sides,who profit from bitter trench warfare.Hunting and non-hunting conservationists have reached encompassing understandings elsewhere in theworld – just look to North America, where many major conservation NGOs are working closely together withhunters and anglers.The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/), an organization with more than one million membershas a mission statement which says: “The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants,animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands andwaters they need to survive” Hardly the statement of a pro-hunting conservation NGO, you would think. Butwait and read the Autumn-2006 issue of Nature Conservancy Magazine. There is a feature article explaining“why American sportswomen and sportsmen are among the Nature Conservancy’s valued allies”. You candownload Hal Herring’s comprehensive article athttp://www.nature.org/magazine/autumn2006/features/art18601.html . It offers a refreshingly different viewfrom what we are used to hear from the anti-hunting lobby and their standard bearers in South Africa. Searchresults on “hunting” at the Nature Conservancy’s website show 772 items – enough reading material for awhile!Other big “green” groups such as the National Audubon Society and the Sierra Club have neveropposed hunting. In fact, they recognize the sport as a legitimate and necessary wildlife-management tool.Ted Williams writes in his article “Natural Allies” on the Sierra Club’s website, that “they are perceived asanti-hunting because of embarrassing behavior by some of their members”. And Sierra Club legislativedirector Debbie Sease says “As the Sierra Club works to defend these places, we will continue to reachout to the hunters and anglers who have a stake in them. We’re natural allies.” You can read this atwww.sierraclub.org/huntingfishing/index.asp.Even in South Africa conservation organizations are outing themselves as pro-hunting, although some stillrefrain from making the fact too obvious.At the 3rd World Conservation Congress (2004) a recommendation introduced by the Game RangersAssociation Africa (GRAA), the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and South African National Parks“accepting that well-managed recreational hunting has a role in the managed sustainable consumptive use ofwildlife populations” and “condemning killing animals in small enclosures where they have little or no chanceto escape” was adopted by the plenum. WWF on a global level and WWF-SA have developed cautiouslypositive hunting policies.The press release at the IUCN-sponsored African lion workshops in Johannesburg (2006) says that“regulated trophy hunting is not considered a threat, but [a] way to help alleviate human-lion conflict andgenerate economic benefits for poor people to build their support for lion conservation. Foreign hunters bringmillions of dollars each year into African economies.”98
Not many members of the South African hunting and angling community look like stereotypicalenvironmentalists and unfortunately hunters and non-hunting conservationists often make each othernervous. In the past the lack of communication, irresponsible media reporting as well as irresponsiblebehavior of people from both camps created trenches once thought unbridgeable.It is certainly true that the two groups may not see eye-to-eye on every issue, but what connects them isan understanding that healthy ecosystems mean healthy habitats for game animals. This has lead to somesort of cooperation even between such diverse organizations as the Sierra Club and the National RifleAssociation.In South Africa, where hunting has driven the establishment of over 9,000 registered game ranches,covering over 16 million hectares, which is nearly three times the area covered by all the provincial andnational game reserves in the country, such cooperation is still sadly lacking.Hunting and non-hunting conservation groups in South Africa need to recognize their common objectivesand their natural alliance. Initial steps have been made, but the process is painfully slow.A lot of paranoia still exists on both sides. With the hunters, because hunting has been beaten savagely forso long; not only by the few extreme animal rightists, but by the media and as a result by an underinformedsociety in general. With many conservation organizations, because they perceive that the more extremeanimal rights organizations will have a field day in poaching their members, if they associate too closely withhunters. WWF’s caveat at the end of the published hunting policy is significant proof: “WWF does not run orderive revenue from any trophy hunting projects”. Nevertheless, in Namibia, WWF-LIFE was instrumental inestablishing the hunting concessions for the Khwe community in the Bwabwata National Park, and WWF-Pakistan assists remote rural communities in establishing trophy hunting programs.Another example is a recent move in South Africa to put game ranching under the umbrella of theDepartment of Agriculture. Game Ranchers celebrate the “South African conservation revolution” and their16 million hectares of private conservation areas, but fail to see that the “revolution” has just begun andneeds to be expanded with a triple-bottom-line approach and not a shortsighted focus on economics. OnlyDEAT can provide the structure and drive for that.Partnerships in innovative approaches, clear norms & standards, effective self-administration and enablingtax legislation are needed to maintain and increase the conservation acreage. Eventually this may leadtowards larger conservancies with joint management plans.Fence-sitting behavior by either party plays into the hands of those who want to discredit the entireenvironmental movement. The South African conservation NGOs need to publicly clarify that, albeit some oftheir members might be against hunting, institutionally they are not. They must take a stand for the sake ofour wild natural heritage, and they have to come out in public together with their foremost allies – thehundred thousands South African hunters and anglers and their associations.We have to stop allowing a few uninformed oddballs and card carrying members of the Flat-Earth-Society, in either camp, to be stumbling blocks to a true Natural Partnership.Scientists and Hunters Meet in LondonBy Gerhard R DammThe Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SUSG) under the IUCN Species Survival Commission and theZoological Society of London invited interested stakeholders and the public to a symposium „RecreationalHunting, Conservation and Rural Livelihoods: Science and Practice“ in mid October at the ZoologicalSociety’s London headquarters. The purpose of the meeting was to examine recreational hunting as aconservation tool and to explore how recreational hunting can be a significant partner in global wildlifeconservation.About 260 persons followed the invitation to the symposium. The event was co-organized by theInternational Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) and Fauna Flora International (FFI). Primaryfunding for the conference came from organizations like Conservation Force, Dallas Safari Club, Safari ClubInternational and Sand County Foundation. Opening the meeting SUSG Chair Jon Hutton said “this meetingbreaks new scientific ground because for the first time we have brought together leading experts and99
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Dedicated to the People and the Wil
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Hunting in South Africa: Facts - Ri
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Warthog $600 $80 $299 $300 $114 n/a
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a) Trophy fees for overseas hunters
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Bailey (1993) 16 estimates leopard
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and adequate training programs with
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Clearly, 30.5 million Rand addition
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• Use of appropriate hunting prot
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for the triple bottom line approach
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Apart from existing and proposed na
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a result of these concerted actions
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countries to cooperate across borde
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years there have been three differe
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The interference does not only affe
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http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/susg
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Hunting for Conservation in Cameroo
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Tourist Hunting: How Tanzania Can B
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• The leading role that sport hun
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hunters, organizers and entertainer
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Although commercial trophy hunting
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We note that Packer’s proposal fo
Page 48 and 49: ecruit safari operators with a long
Page 50 and 51: corruption in the province. Once ag
Page 52 and 53: grass so the available browse (bush
Page 54 and 55: wildlife on their own," said Dr. Ko
Page 56 and 57: Tanzania Development Partners Group
Page 58 and 59: quality and age of key species bein
Page 60 and 61: As mentioned earlier, the first ste
Page 62 and 63: The characteristics of hunting tour
Page 64 and 65: from the use of a species can provi
Page 66 and 67: eplaced by holistic triple-bottom-l
Page 68 and 69: What Do You Know About Conservation
Page 70 and 71: conservation based on international
Page 72 and 73: is exceeded game populations have t
Page 74 and 75: Until 1960 wildlife was in serious
Page 76 and 77: The aim must be to halt and root ou
Page 78 and 79: • Incentives are offered as a rew
Page 80: similar instruments. Such capital i
Page 83 and 84: The authorsDr. Graham Child was the
Page 85 and 86: Hunting Benefits BiodiversityRolf B
Page 87 and 88: finds a much larger male. Since he
Page 89 and 90: The “Fortress Mentality” of col
Page 91 and 92: Hunting is a controversial topic, o
Page 93 and 94: are considered to compete for poten
Page 95 and 96: Bwabwata National ParkThe Bwabwata
Page 97: The visiting hunters will be accomm
Page 101 and 102: Symposium, SSC Chair Holly Dublin s
Page 103 and 104: tourist hunting was prepared yet wa
Page 105 and 106: Why SCP?The Tanzanian Government fi
Page 107 and 108: Government Made CBC a Cornerstone o
Page 109 and 110: • Poaching: strong upward trend
Page 111 and 112: ecology from the University of Cali
Page 113 and 114: WWF on “Hunting for Conservation
Page 115 and 116: Moving Ahead (Extracts)Editorial Co
Page 117 and 118: conservation arena, I have undertak
Page 119 and 120: The Influence of Trophy Measurement
Page 121 and 122: A total of 91 samples were collecte
Page 123 and 124: The hunting industry is important n
Page 125 and 126: Photo 4: Buffalo Bull approx. 8 Yrs
Page 127 and 128: Photo 8: Current SCI Number 5 is of
Page 129 and 130: CIC Measuring Method129
Page 131 and 132: I know about hunting too. As a ward
Page 133 and 134: guide them in the hunt as best he p
Page 135 and 136: ewilderment as most of the hunting
Page 137 and 138: After Steve Smith’s untimely deat
Page 139 and 140: owe it to ourselves. We owe it to c
Page 141 and 142: “Use it or loose it” - Consumpt
Page 143 and 144: safari, or advised booked clients t
Page 145 and 146: the sector is suffering from sub-op
Page 147 and 148: It is suggested that such donations
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‣ Key-Excerpts from the speech by
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Southern African countries that eng
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But that however, is only part of t
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