CONSERVATION THROUGH THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF WILDLIFE

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© Dr Rolf Baldus

What is the conservation of wildlife?

Wildlife species are being threatened mainlybecause of habitat destruction due tohuman population growth and theincreasing demand for arable land. In somecountries, population growth coupled withlimited livelihood options, poverty andunemployment leads to food insecurity andcan drive people to illegally harvest wildlifefor subsistence, resulting in unsustainableconsumption patterns and interests.1

Limited livelihood options drives people topoach wildlife species that have aneconomic value in trade or local markets asa result of high buying demand.

Together with growing social expectations,a vision of sustainability surrounding thetreatment and use of these naturalresources has been publicly embraced. Suchobjectives of conservation as maintaininghealthy, productive wildlife populations,preserving natural habitats, and reducinginterference with the natural course of lifeclosely align with the goal of sustainablewildlife management.

What is sustainable wildlife management?

Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) isthe responsible management of socially,ecologically, and/or economically importantwildlife species, while sustaining theirpopulations and habitats over time. Thisrequires that all land-users within a given

wildlife habitat are aware of and considerthe effects of their activities on wildlife andon other concerned stakeholders.

Wildlife is an important renewable naturalresource. If sustainably managed, wildlifecan provide continuous nutrition andeconomic income. This contributes to foodsecurity and thus to the alleviation ofpoverty and livelihoods, particularly in ruralareas of both the developed and developingworld. An unregulated wildlife population ina human-influenced environment, on theother hand, can create considerable human-wildlife conflict and could potentially lead tothe complete loss of wildlife populations.

SWM and Hunting

Hunting has influenced human development,culture, religion, and social interactionsfrom times lost in history. There are few, if any, activities, which provide a moresustained link than hunting across allhuman civilizations from the Stone Age tothe Internet Age.

Hunters are an essential part of sustainablewildlife management as they share thesame objectives as conservationists.Although sustainable hunting has beendescribed scientifically2, it lacks publicunderstanding. Hunting, trophy hunting inparticular, is heavily criticized despite itsability to support species and habitatconservation efforts (see the IUCN SSC

Conservation through the sustainable use of wildlife

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Guiding Principles on Trophy Hunting as aTool for Creating Conservation Incentives3).

Modern hunting, as one important methodof incentive-driven conservation, harnesseseconomic and societal forces thusbenefitting people, ecosystems, and wildlife.When practiced responsibly and prudently,it does not measurably reduce thepopulation size or the genetic quality of thetarget species or of ecologically relatedspecies, such as predators.

The ecological, economical and humandimensions of hunting

Sustainable hunting provides incentives torestore or maintain habitats. Pro bonoservices which otherwise would have to befinanced through public funds can beharnessed from hunters. This voluntarypublic service positively affects landscapesand livelihoods, as well as individual gameand non-game species. Pragmatic solutionsthat work (i) are market-based, because themarket driven private sector is the strongestforce in the world; (ii) involve huntingethics and promote animal welfarebecause hunting practices must besocially acceptable; and (iii) include ruralcommunities whose livelihoods depend onthe wise use of their wildlife, because if thepeople are an integral part of the process,effective conservation is achievable.

*Public opposition to the principle ofsustainable use. The public often steps inthe way of sustainable use of wildlifeciting public morality as the main reasonagainst hunting, despite any and allevidence of its ample benefits. The mediaplays an important role in this opposition,drawing on inaccurate information givenby the anti-hunting lobby.4

The other side of the coin: poaching andhuman-wildlife conflict

The pressure of limited livelihood options,the lack of ownership of land and wildliferesources, human-wildlife conflict (HWC),and the greed for financial gains are themost frequent triggers of poaching.Poaching disrupts proper wildlifemanagement, can lead to populationcollapse, and endangers livelihoods.Poaching needs to be classified as crime inorder to prosecute offenders. Poachingoperations changed over time and manyshow evidence of the involvement oftransnational organized criminal networks.

Human-wildlife conflict is a major driver ofpoaching. Sustainable hunting can be usefulin abating these conflicts, bringing benefitsto the communities experiencing HWC.Hunting bans, on the other hand, mayexacerbate the issue by removing thelivelihood or economic benefits that peoplederive from the problem animals thatencourage tolerance of their presence.

Benefits from sustainable hunting

One of the most significant contributions ofhunting to conservation is that it providesincentives to communities and otherlandowners for habitat protection and the sustainable use of wildlife 5. Theseincentives come from the actual andpotential economic gains from hunting andthe devolution of ownership rights, whichgives landowners the responsibility to bestewards of their wildlife 6.

A prime example of this is the CAMPFIREprogram in Zimbabwe 7, 8, where ruraldistrict councils market the wildlife on theirland. Between 1989 and 2001 CAMPFIRE

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generated 20 million USD for communities,89% of which came from hunting tourism7.Many species’ populations, like elephants,have increased in CAMPFIRE areas 8. The Namibian community conservancymodel is another excellent example of this.Here, not only does the land-owningcommunity receive the full amount of thehunting revenue, it also receives the gamemeat. High-value and endangered specieslike the black rhinoceros also stronglybenefit from Namibia’s community-basedhunting scheme.

These successful schemes are alsofunctioning in Europe. Hunting creates jobs,predominantly in rural areas, whereemployment opportunities are rare and theunemployment rate is high 9.

Hunting tourism is the most profitableform of hunting 3. Furthermore, hunting

tourists pay significantly more per personthan conventional tourists and have amuch smaller ecological footprint becauseof their low numbers. In South Africa, forexample, hunting tourism generatesbetween 65.6 – 137 million USD per year,and in Tanzania between 27.6 and 36.1million USD per year is raised 10. In the US,hunters spent 38.3 billion USD, with 11.8billion USD of that being in taxes, in 2011.From that nearly 38 million USD per day isused to support wildlife agencies andconservation. Often, hunting tourism andphoto tourism are viewed as competingbusinesses, however, they can besimultaneously practiced by separatingthem in time and/or space.

The revenue generated from hunting canprovide a stable financial basis for habitatconservation, even over large areas of land.As an example, revenue from hunting

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© Dr Rolf Baldus

tourism contributes to the protection of over250,000 km2 in Tanzania, 80,000 km2 inMozambique 10 2,824,000 km2 in the UnitedStates 11. The area of land protected forhunting in Sub-Saharan Africa exceeds thatof protected areas by 22% 12. These areasare often remote, have little infrastructure,and have low densities of “flagship” species,making them unsuitable for mass tourism.Hunting provides the revenue and incentivefor their ongoing protection. A ban onhunting, on the other hand, encourages theconversion of land to alternative intensiveland-uses, associated with the loss ofhabitats and wildlife.

Community-wildlife coexistence: Publicparticipation in every step of the decision-making process is essential to shift theperception of wildlife as pests or threatsto human well-being to them being ofvalue socially, economically, and

environmentally. This could also lead tothe development of land ownership lawswhereby communities could be givenback rights to access and use the land.Community empowerment is a commontheme among the strongest conservationprograms which have won the CIC’sMarkhor Award since it was firstestablished.13

Hunters as abundant in-field wildlifemonitors: There is an invaluable potentialfor hunters to become involved asconservationists by monitoring thesituation they observe during their hunt, ajob that could never be fulfilled by paidemployees. This potential could be tappedthrough the development of reportingsystems to support and care for the long-term protection of wildlife species. Suchsystems run mainly by the hunters are inplace in many countries already.

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© Dr Rolf Baldus

Best practices

Regulated hunting is the only example inan ecological and social context where arelatively large number of people engagewith a natural resource sustainably anddemonstrate that an ethical engagementwith wildlife can be good for people andwildlife14.

Europe: Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica)populations thrive again through the combinedefforts of hunters, management authorities andland owners. Hunters started the re-introductionof Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) and the species hasnow colonized most of the former ranges. Theconservation management of the Chartreusechamois (Rupicapra r. cartusiana) with stronghunter participation saved this rare and isolatedchamois phenotype from disappearing, and todaya limited annual harvest is again possible. Strictprotection of other chamois phenotypes, i.e.Apennine chamois (R. p. ornata), Tatra chamois(R. r. tatrica) led to steady increases inpopulation numbers and may warrant down-listing and limited harvests in future5.

Namibia: A policy change in the mid-1990s,which let local people use and benefit fromwildlife on their land, transformed attitudes toconservation. The country’s communalconservancy programme, which includes anarea of ca. 160,000 km2, is a conservation andrural development success story, with tourismand trophy hunting playing central roles15.Namibia also implemented a science-basedmanagement strategy for black rhinos with anannual harvest of up to five male black rhinos(Diceros bicornis) authorized with CITESapproval and supported by the World WildlifeFund (WWF). Convinced of the successfulNamibian black rhino conservation programme,the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service authorised theimport of two black rhino trophies into theUnited States in 2015 16.

North America: In North America mountainsheep (Ovis dalli and O. canadensis) and

mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) areagain a common sight, just as pronghornantelope (Antilocapra americana), white-taileddeer (Odocoileus virginianus), elk (Cervuscanadensis) moose (Alces ssp) and others. The annual sustainable trophy hunting quotasare on the increase. Musk oxen (Ovibosmoschatus) are thriving in the Canadian Arcticand provide food, clothing and tools and incomefor the Inuit from trophy hunting. Regulatedwaterfowl and upland game bird hunting havehelped preserve millions of acres of habitat thatbenefits not only the game species, but a host ofnative wildlife, including threatened andendangered species. Regulated hunting has ledto the habitat and wildlife restoration and trophyhunting played an important role in these successstories directly (through the manipulation ofpopulations); and indirectly (through theprovision of funding for wildlife conservation)17.

Pakistan: The self-supporting TorgharConservation Programme (TCP), later theSociety for Torghar Environmental Protection(STEP) was based on the principles ofsustainable use of wildlife, local tribeinvolvement, and conservation biology18. Todaythe numbers of Sulaiman Markhor (Caprafalconeri jerdoni) and Afghan Urial (Ovis vigneicycloceros) have increased significantly6, 19. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service subsequentlyreclassified the straight-horned markhor (C. f.megaceros, aka C. f. jerdoni) from endangeredto threatened under the Endangered Species Act(ESA) in 2014 and published a rule that allowsthe import of sport-hunted straight-hornedmarkhor trophies under certain conditions20.

Tajikistan: Population estimates for Pamir argali(Ovis ammon polii)19, 21 and Bokhara markhor(Capra falconeri heptneri) are encouraging andjustify the continuation respectivelyintroduction of carefully designed trophyhunting programs with the ultimate objective ofa symbiotic benefit sharing for wildlife speciesand rural communities.

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© Paop | Dreamstime.com

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15 Namibian Association of CBNRM SupportOrganisations (NACSO), 2011. Living with wildlife – thestory of Namibia’s Communal Conservancieshttp://www.nacso.org.na/SOC_profiles/Namibia's%20Communal%20Conservancies.pdf

16 http://www.fws.gov/international/permits/black-rhino-import-permit.html

17 Krausman, P.R. & Bleich, V.C. (2013): Conservation andmanagement of ungulates in North America,International Journal of Environmental Studies, 70:3,372-382, DOI: 10.1080/00207233.2013.804748http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2013.804748

18 Bellon, L. (2008): Sustainable conservation andgrassroots realities lessons from the conservationprogramme in Torghar, Balochistan, Pakistan. InBaldus, R. D., Damm, G. R. & Wollscheid, K. eds., 2008:Best Practices in Sustainable Hunting – A Guide toBest Practices from Around the World. Jointpublication of FAO and CIC. Budapest.

19 Michel, S. & Muratov, R. (2009): Survey on Marco Polosheep and other mammal species in the Eastern Pamirs(Republic of Tajikistan, GBAO). Working report of theproject «Community Based Conservation andManagement of Mountain Ungulates in Tajikistan»

20 Fish and Wildlife Service (October 2014): Listing theStraight-Horned Markhor as Threatened with a Ruleunder Section 4(d) of the ESAhttp://www.fws.gov/international/permits/by-activity/sport-hunted-trophies.html

21 Weaver, L. C. (2013): The Potential for SustainableHunting Management in the Context of the TajikNational Park and the Recently Established Tajik WorldHeritage Site. Report Prepared On Behalf of the GIZFunded Sustainable Use of Natural Resources inCentral Asia / Wildlife Management Project

1 Dr. Baldus, R.D. (2014): Poaching in Africa: Facts,Causes, and Solutions. African Indaba 12(3). URL:http://www.africanindaba.com/2014/04/poaching-in-africa-facts-causes-and-solutions-april-2014-volume-12-3/

2 Forstner, M., Reimoser, F. Hackl, J. & Heckl, F. (2001):Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Hunting –Monograph 163 (available only in digital format),Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environmentand Water Management, Austria

3 IUCN SSC (2012): IUCN SSC Guiding Principles onTrophy Hunting as a Tool for Creating ConservationIncentives. Ver. 1.0. IUCN, Gland / Secretariat of theConvention on Biological Diversity (2004) Addis AbabaPrinciples and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use ofBiodiversity (CBD Guidelines) Montreal: Secretariat ofthe Convention on Biological Diversity 21 p.

4 Weaver, L.C., and Petersen, T. (2008): NamibiaCommunal Area Conservancies—In: Baldus, R.D.,Damm, G.R., and Wollscheid, K. (eds.): Best Practices inSustainable Hunting—A Guide to Best Practices fromAround the World, pp. 3-4.

5 Damm, G. & Franco, N. (2014): CIC Caprinae Atlas of theWorld. CIC International Council for Game and WildlifeConservation, Budapest & Rowland Ward Publishing,Johannesburg

6 Ahmed, J. et al. (2001): Lessons Learned: Case Studiesin Sustainable Use. IUCN. “Conservation of SulaimanMarkhor and Afghan Urial by Local Tribesmen in Torghar,Pakistan by Javed Ahmed, Naseer Tareen, and PaindKhan. http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/ahmed.PDF

7 Frost, P.G.H. & Bond, I. (2008): The CAMPFIREprogramme in Zimbabwe: Payments for wildlifeservices. Ecological Economics 65:776 - 787.

8 Taylor, R. (2009): Community based natural resourcemanagement in Zimbabwe: the experience ofCAMPFIRE. Biodiversity Conservation 18:2563 - 2583.

9 Csányi S., Tóth K., Kovács I. & Schally G. (eds.) (2014):Vadgazdálkodási Adattár (Hungarian GameManagement Database) - 2013/2014. OrszágosVadgazdálkodási Adattár, Gödöllő, 48pp.

10 Lindsey, P.A., Alexander, R., Frank, L.G., Mathieson, A.,& Romanach, S.S. (2006): Potential of trophy huntingto create incentives for wildlife conservation in Africawhere alternative wildlife-based land uses may not beviable. Animal Conservation 9(3):283-291.

11 www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/statab/sec24.pdf;see Table No. 1147. National Forest System Land—Stateand Other Area: 1998 / http://www.blm.gov/public_land_statistics/pls11/pls2011.pdf /http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2004/articles6/state_b / http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/factsht/land_own.pdf

12 Lindsey, P., Roulet, P., & Romanach, S.S. (2007):Economic and conservation significance of the trophyhunting industry in sub-Saharan Africa. BiologicalConservation 134(4):455-469.

13 Marghescu, T. (2014): Pers. comm. 14 Dizard, J. Hunting—For a Sustainable Relationship to

Nature (http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting---jan-dizard-response-102.php)

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Key Messages

l Hunting as a method of SWM can protect and contribute to numerous social, cultural,ecological, and economic benefits for allstakeholders directly and indirectly involved in the wildlife sector.

l Establishing transparent, understandable, andrealistic legislation through public participationimproves the success of a community-basedsustainable hunting program.

l Sutainable hunting can play an imminent rolein decreasing human-wildlife conflict, thusconserving wildlife resources and benefitinglocal people.

l Profits associated with hunting tourism(recreational and trophy) can be used todevelop the participating community andestablish further wildlife conservationmeasures.

l SWM and hunting plays an important role incombating wildlife crime through networks ofreliable officials, committed to abolishingillegal activities.

l Hunters must be fully integrated as fieldexperts into monitoring and conservationprograms and recognized as allies in the battle against wildlife crime.

l The contributions of hunting to conservationand society need to be better communicated toincrease public acceptance.

International Council for Game and Wildlife ConservationCIC Headquarters, H-2092 Budakeszi, P.O. Box 82, HungaryPhone: +36 23 45 38 30Fax: +36 23 45 38 32E-mail: office@cic-wildlife.org

The CIC Markhor Award honors a conservation project ofmultinational relevance that links the conservation ofbiodiversity and human livelihoods through application ofsustainable use principles. The Markhor Award is grantedevery two years at the occasion of the Conference ofParties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Past winners have been:

2008 – Niassa Reserve together with the communities of the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor in Tanzania

2010 – Torghar Conservation Program (TCP) in Pakistan

2012 – Namibia’s Communal Conservancies

2014 – Tajikistan Mountain Ungulate Project

2016 – Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe

As Dr. Braulio Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention of Biological Diversity highlighted at the occasion of the last award ceremony in Cancún, Mexico:

“by giving the Markhor Award to projects that haveimplemented sustainable use through hunting to further the goal of conservation of biodiversity, it encouragesothers to follow in their noble footsteps on the path toachieving Aichi targets by 2020.”

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© Dr Ludwig Siege