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One of the major challenges of sustainable development is the
interdisciplinary nature of the issues involved. To this end, a
team of conservation biologists, hunters, tourist operators,
ranchers, wildlife and land managers, ecologists, veterinarians and
economists was convened to discuss whether wildlife outside
protected areas in Africa can be conserved in the face of
agricultural expansion and human population growth. They reached
the unequivocal - if controversial - conclusion that wildlife can
be an economic asset, especially in the African savannas, if this
wildlife can be sustainably utilized through safari hunting and
tourism. Using the African savannas as an example, Wildlife
Conservation by Sustainable Use shows that in many instances
sustainable wildlife utilization comprises an even better form of
land use than livestock keeping. Even when population pressure is
high, as in agricultural areas or in humid zones, and wild animal
species can pose a serious cost to agriculture, these costs are
mainly caused by small species with a low potential for safari
hunting. Although ranching has a very low rate of return and is
hardly ever profitable, the biggest obstacle to the model of
sustainable wildlife use outlined in Wildlife Conservation by
Sustainable Use is from unfair competition from the agricultural
sector, such as subsidies and lack of taxation, resulting in market
distortion for wildlife utilization. This book thus gives valuable
evidence for a different way of working, providing arguments for
removing such distortions and thereby facilitating financially
sound land use and making it a rationally sound choice to conserve
wildlife outside protected areas. The expert team of authors, most
of whom came together at a workshop to thrash out the ideas that
were then developed into the various chapters, has written a superb
account of recent research on this complex subject, resulting in a
book that is a major contribution to our understanding of
sustainable use of land. The important conclusion is that wildlife
conservation can be possible for landholders and local communities
if they have a financial interest in protecting wildlife on their
lands.
One of the major challenges of sustainable development is the
interdisciplinary nature of the issues involved. To this end, a
team of conservation biologists, hunters, tourist operators,
ranchers, wildlife and land managers, ecologists, veterinarians and
economists was convened to discuss whether wildlife outside
protected areas in Africa can be conserved in the face of
agricultural expansion and human population growth. They reached
the unequivocal - if controversial - conclusion that wildlife can
be an economic asset, especially in the African savannas, if this
wildlife can be sustainably utilized through safari hunting and
tourism. Using the African savannas as an example, Wildlife
Conservation by Sustainable Use shows that in many instances
sustainable wildlife utilization comprises an even better form of
land use than livestock keeping. Even when population pressure is
high, as in agricultural areas or in humid zones, and wild animal
species can pose a serious cost to agriculture, these costs are
mainly caused by small species with a low potential for safari
hunting. Although ranching has a very low rate of return and is
hardly ever profitable, the biggest obstacle to the model of
sustainable wildlife use outlined in Wildlife Conservation by
Sustainable Use is from unfair competition from the agricultural
sector, such as subsidies and lack of taxation, resulting in market
distortion for wildlife utilization. This book thus gives valuable
evidence for a different way of working, providing arguments for
removing such distortions and thereby facilitating financially
sound land use and making it a rationally sound choice to conserve
wildlife outside protected areas. The expert team of authors, most
of whom came together at a workshop to thrash out the ideas that
were then developed into the various chapters, has written a superb
account of recent research on this complex subject, resulting in a
book that is a major contribution to our understanding of
sustainable use of land. The important conclusion is that wildlife
conservation can be possible for landholders and local communities
if they have a financial interest in protecting wildlife on their
lands.
Over the past 30 years or so, research effort in behaviour and
ecology has progressed from simple documentation of the habits or
habitats of differ ent species to asking more searching questions
about the adaptiveness of the patterns of behaviour observed; moved
from documenting simply what occurs, to trying to understand why.
Increasingly, studies of behav iour or ecology explore the function
of particular responses or patterns of behaviour in individuals or
populations - looking for the adaptiveness that has led to the
adoption of such patterns either at a proximate level (what
environmental circumstances have favoured the adoption of some
particular strategy or response from within the animal's repertoire
at that specific time) or at an evolutionary level (speculating
upon what pres sures have led to the inclusion of a particular
pattern of behaviour within the repertoire in the first place).
Many common principles have been established - common to a wide
diversity of animal groups, yet showing some precise relationship
between a given aspect of behaviour or population dynamics and some
particular ecological factor. In particular, tremendous advances
have been made in understanding the foraging behaviour of animals -
and the 'decision rules' by which they seek and select from the
various resources on offer - and patterns of social organization
and behaviour: the adap tiveness of different social structures,
group sizes or reproductive tactics.
Tropical communities are recognised as among the most species-rich
and dynamic in the world. Yet far from existing as dynamic
equilibria, large unpredictable disruptive events are seen as
dominating the longer-term dynamics set against the background of
global change. This 1998 volume challenges the dynamic equilibrium
idea yet further, arguing for thinking on a timescale of decades to
centuries, finding different ways to handle unpredictability and
uniqueness, and evaluating species diversity and community change
at different scales. The difficult search for robust
generalizations and rules in tropical communities, which might
allow better prescription through understanding rather than
description is partly answered in this forward-looking book by the
realization that an alternative framework and perspective is
required for the tropics. This volume will continue to appeal to
both researchers and advanced students of ecology.
Tropical communities are recognised as among the most species-rich
and dynamic in the world. Yet far from existing as dynamic
equilibria, large unpredictable disruptive events are seen as
dominating the longer-term dynamics set against the background of
global change. This 1998 volume challenges the dynamic equilibrium
idea yet further, arguing for thinking on a timescale of decades to
centuries, finding different ways to handle unpredictability and
uniqueness, and evaluating species diversity and community change
at different scales. The difficult search for robust
generalizations and rules in tropical communities, which might
allow better prescription through understanding rather than
description is partly answered in this forward-looking book by the
realization that an alternative framework and perspective is
required for the tropics. This volume will continue to appeal to
both researchers and advanced students of ecology.
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