Download A WORD FROM OUR CEO The ongoing challenge of how to

A WORD FROM OUR CEO
The ongoing challenge of how to sustainably manage, and expand the extent of land and important
ecosystems under conservation management is experienced by most nations and certainly all African
countries. On a continent where human population pressures, conflict, competition for resources and
poor governance often result in the erosion of our existing protected areas, the dialogue around how
to protect and expand the network of land under conservation tenure may often just be academic
exercise or a fantasy. It is therefore interesting to take note of two different approaches unfolding on
the African landscape that appear to be solving this problem and their underlying philosophies and
values, as well as outcomes and impacts.
In South Africa, our legal regime allows for the private ownership of wildlife. This is unusual in Africa,
where wildlife is most often considered a resource of the state, or communal entities. South Africa’s
Game Theft Act of 1991 provides certain ownership rights to landowners over wild animals held in
enclosed areas, and set the scene for incentivising farmers to embark on private ownership of game
species to the point where South Africa has a vibrant wildlife ranching economy supported by
approximately 9 000 wildlife ranches, covering an area >170 000 km2 and supporting around 6 million
wild herbivores. It is an undisputed fact that the private sector has dramatically increased the amount
of land under some form of conservation tenure and has increased the number and range of wild
animals occurring on privately owned land. In keeping with this trend, components of South Africa’s
wildlife sector have embraced the emerging trend of intensively breeding various game species,
including in some cases, predators and colour variants of wild antelope, through intensive breeding
operations that see large investments in not only their stock animals, but also the infrastructure on
the property that keeps intruders (human and carnivorous alike) out and valuable breeding animals
in. The jury is still out on the various positive and possible negative consequences of this trend but it
cannot be argued that these operations are certainly generating revenue for a wildlife-based land use
and are supporting the persistence and possible expansion of a wildlife economy in South Africa.
Travel a little further north and eastwards on the content and in Kenya, two alternative and quite
different models of sustainable wildlife land use are emerging. This first is the Mara Naboisho
Conservancy which stands out as a highly successful community-driven wildlife conservancy in the
fragile and iconic Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, one of the last major wildlife refuges on earth. The
Naboisho Conservancy consists of 50,956 acres of critical wildlife habitat, voluntarily signed into the
conservancy by 554 Maasai landowners who now generate an income through sustainable tourism
(with six lodges and camps and 142 jobs in hotel and conservancy management), and the co-existence
of livestock production and wildlife conservation. The integration of wildlife and cattle farming has
also ensured the preservation of traditional Maasai culture and practices and holistic rangeland
management.
The system of joint decision-making and transparency ensures the equitable distribution of benefits
to all Maasai households and commercial tourism partners as well as the wider community. In
Naboisho the value of the land under conservation is $122 per hectare per annum (compared to
livestock alone which generated a maximum of $100 per hectare per annum) due to multiple income
streams from tourism, livestock and community. The Naboisho Conservancy’s highly successful model
of good governance is the key mix of parties involved leading to a sustainable and long-term future.
Equally as groundbreaking is the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in the Laikipia County near Mount Kenya. This
conservancy is one of the few conservancies in the world to be able to cover almost all of its basic
operating costs (US$ 6 million) through its own sustainable, commercially generated revenues from
tourism and agriculture. Ol Pejeta spans over 36,400 hectares and has an impressive conservation
track record as the largest Black Rhino sanctuary in east Africa, and home to three of the world’s last
remaining Northern White Rhino. It is the only place in Kenya to see chimpanzees and has some of the
highest predator densities in Kenya, whilst managing a successful livestock programme, to support
their conservation costs but also as a rangeland management tool. The bulk of revenues are derived
from tourism (through 160 beds in 6 camps/lodges), but Ol Pejeta has also proven that the integrated
system of wildlife and livestock not only works, but can be beneficial to the grasslands whilst helping
to maximize productivity. The communities surrounding Ol Pejeta are home to over 50,000 people
who are assisted by the conservancy through employment, trade and security.
So in east Africa we have expanding conservation systems that integrate multi-party cultural and
commercial interests, diverse landuses and an expanded stakeholder base of beneficiaries. In South
Africa, private ownership is increasing wildlife values in key species and expanding options for
commercial and private wildlife owners to sustain their wildlife interests. We have witnessed the
dramatic expansion of land under a wildlife use in the past 25 years and despite some of the associated
challenges that some ranches may present to comprehensive biodiversity conservation, this often
remains a better option for conservation than golf courses and cattle farms. There is however room,
in the South African context for a conservation model that sees fences dropped and the engagement
of diverse stakeholder groups into multi-party co-management conservancies that benefit a large
group of stakeholders, expand revenue generating opportunities and result in true landscape
conservation that hinges around more than just the commercial production of selected species. The
commercial wildlife ranching sector plays an important role in the South Africa economy and has
reclaimed substantial acreage from livestock farming for the wildlife economy at large. It should not
however, not be seen as a substitute for developing long-term community-based models of
conservation enterprise that demonstrate sustainability of not only revenue, but also of culture,
livelihoods, wildlife persistence and the local economy by conserving biodiversity and functioning
ecosystems holistically and expansively.
Best wishes,
Yolan