Lions of Sabi Sands

[Rabubi]

(05-25-2024, 08:32 PM)NLAL11 Wrote: @Rabubi I concur with your statements of it all boiling down to the government and balancing conservation with the social elements. Getting the locals involved in the conservation is key, such as the initiatives that take poachers and - rather than punishing, vilifying and ostracising them - training them to be rangers. Taking the people poaching out of need for money, and giving them a job protecting the animals instead, is the way it needs to be done.

Thank you for your kind words. I think this online community benefits from having someone like you who is, while not necessarily in the same position as these villagers, a little closer to the issue.

Absolutely, my friend. Helping the locals take initiative over conserving and managing natural resources is definitely the way to go.

In the early 2000s there was a project launched in Zimbabwe known as the CAMPFIRE project. It was basically aimed at empowering local communities with the skills and resources to manage their communal lands via ecotourism and hunting and for a time, it worked quite well in that the wildlife population was stabilizing and the rural communities were making revenue.

However, as in most cases here in Africa, corruption infected this program and the money started flowing only to the powerful and connected at the expense of the rural communities. As a result, that project basically crumbled.

The people on the ground, when properly incentivised, are usually more than willing to take on these types of projects. The individuals who need to be placed under serious scrutiny are government officials as their performance can usually make or break such initiatives. Reply