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Sustainable Use of Wildlife

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180916
This digital collection includes presentations given at the 9th International Wildlife Ranching Symposium held in 2016 for the symposium theme: Sustainable Use of Wildlife.

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Browsing Sustainable Use of Wildlife by Author "Child, Matthew, author"

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    Game meat production on private land in South Africa: current scale and potential for the future
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016-09) Taylor, Andrew, author; Child, Matthew, author; Lindsey, Peter, author; Davies-Mostert, Harriet, author; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, publisher
    Game meat production is considered one of the four pillars of wildlife ranching in South Africa, with the potential to generate large revenues and contribute positively to food security and job creation. It is very far from meeting its potential, however, with the main reason for this being a lack of an enabling legislation to allow for large scale game meat production. This situation is changing, and as the opportunities for game meat production open up, the wildlife ranching industry is planning the way forward. Based on background information on the sector from available literature, interviews with expert stakeholders, as well as data collected during a survey of 250 wildlife ranchers across South Africa, we examine the current and potential scales of the sector and assess the potential future contribution game meat production could make to food security and job creation. Although there are no accurate estimates of current domestic game meat production for South Africa, anecdotal estimates suggest that 10-20% of meat consumed during the hunting season is game meat, which equates to 45,000-118,000 tonnes. By comparison, our study estimated ~40,000 tonnes of game meat were produced during 2014. With the possibility of a new game meat scheme, domestic production could be increased considerably. Producing sustainable sources of protein in social-ecological systems is also touted as a key intervention to possibly reduce bush meat poaching and biodiversity loss. Generating game meat sustainably may thus be win-win for ecologists and the economy.
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    Wild and free: what are we conserving and how do we measure it?
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016-09) Child, Matthew, author; Seiler, Jeanetta, author; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, publisher
    Saving a species from extinction is the minimum goal for conservationists. Ideally, we should conserve wild, flourishing, adaptive and self-sustaining populations. The IUCN recognises this ideal and states that only wild subpopulations can be considered for Red Listing. But what is wild? The absence of a measurable definition of wildness results in inconsistent Red Listing and thus inaccurate conservation progress reporting. As wildness exists along a spectrum from captive bred to completely free-roaming and many mammal species are subject to intensive breeding and production, which exist on a spectrum from purely commercial ranching to conservation orientated management, a framework that can unambiguously measure the conservation value or wildness of a subpopulation, regardless of the management system or philosophy is needed. Following two expert workshops, we designed a framework, comprising five variables relating to short-term subpopulation viability and four variables influencing long-term population resilience, to measure the species-specific wildness of subpopulations subject to varying management interventions. We used this framework to assess populations under various management systems and extrapolate adjusted Red List statuses for currently threatened species. The framework is a first attempt at providing a consistent and objective method to identify subpopulations that possess conservation value. As such, it will provide a foundation for policy-makers to provide different incentives to landowners focusing on biodiversity conservation versus commercial production. Importantly, developing an overall wildness status for our mammals, to complement their Red List status, will provide a holistic measure of conservation success rather than simply reporting risk of extinction.