South Africa’s wildlife value is often underestimated because it is difficult to quantify and the depletion of wildlife and natural resources has up until recently not generally been seen as an economic cost to society.
However, the value of wildlife is increasingly represented in policy and economic decisions as wildlife-based activities are profitable and equal to other sectors of the economy. This provides critical support for justifying and financing wildlife conservation, using wildlife as a means of economic development, and promoting sustainable resource use. This is the view of Dr Mike Peel, specialist researcher at the Agricultural Research Council, and Dr Pete Zacharias, a consultant in vegetation and animal systems.
But they warn that resource management information must be based on sound scientific research. The ideal is a flexible management style in which hazards are avoided and opportunities grasped. The wildlife industry can even learn about grazing systems from livestock farmers who remain the custodians of most of the biodiversity. Research is needed to show how the principles adapted to wildlife systems can be migrated back to livestock grazing systems that enhance the conservation of biodiversity.
As it is, the relationship between principles developed for livestock farming and wildlife enterprises has shaped the thinking and development of the strategies for the management of a variety of ventures based on indigenous animals. Game ranching developed from near ‘zero knowledge’ in the 1960s, when South Africa had four registered game ranches.
Early thinking then was divided, with claims of the production potential of indigenous animals countered by pioneering traditions to ‘tame’ the country. The former was based on the East African scenario where large numbers and diversity of game displaying good condition with little overgrazing and erosion, contrasted with neighbouring communal land where livestock was in poor condition and the veld degraded.
Now we know that sound management of the foundation that supports the sustainability of these wildlife systems, whatever their intended uses, will require well-articulated environmental management strategies, according to the researchers.
Not all wildlife-based enterprises have been generally accepted (e.g. captive breeding of predators for hunting and breeding of colour morphs) but legislation is being improved to secure the welfare of game and indeed wildlife in general. This has provided critical input into changes that are mooted for the greater utilisation of wild species and the building of a greater nature-based economy. Not all these intentions are generally welcomed and animal rights organisations will mount significant objections. Nonetheless, wise use, as advocated by the IUCN definition for conservation, should prevail, say Peel and Zacharias.
The Grassland Society of Southern Africa has, over 60 years, contributed to more than 500 article that contribute to understanding the drivers and responses affecting the management and use of grassland and savannas in Southern Africa as they relate to wildlife conservation and research.
The researchers point out that much of the early study was aimed at preservation strategies, focusing on single mammal species, with little information on sustainable use of wildlife on small- and intermediate-sized properties, many of which are fenced. Plant and non-mammal species were largely ignored. But the GSSA’s contribution, in the form of ‘wise use’ principles of sustainable management, will increase as African economies exploit opportunities to use wildlife resources to the benefit of their people.
The Grassland publications highlighted the need to study the soil/plant/animal interaction as a basis for effective research in extensive areas, and the direct and indirect effects of humans on the natural environment. Peel and Zacharias conclude that ranchers, wildlife managers, and researchers should now focus on the basics that keep ecosystems functioning as they should. More about that in Part Two.
*These articles are a summary of Bridging the gap between science and management – wildlife based activities, looking back, looking forward – an introduction to A review of the contribution of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa to understanding conservation and wildlife research and management in southern Africa, by Peel and Zacharias, a study which has been hailed by scientists as being of critical value to land users, professionals, students, institutions, and universities.
