Abstract
A significant proportion of South African biodiversity occurs in extensive private wildlife areas. As such, the continuance of these private reserves is paramount to conservation of the country’s biodiversity. The areas are, however, vulnerable to being divided into smaller camps as landowners enter into the new and rapidly growing industry of selective breeding and intensive management of antelope and predators. Concerns are being raised as to the long-term consequences of the products and impacts of this industry on, inter alia, integrity and conservation of the country’s wildlife, and the landscapes these facilities are located in, as well as the country’s reputation as a free ranging and fair chase hunting destination. Using the public trust doctrine as a foundation, this article characterises the relationship between the country’s environmental law and the roles played by government as the regulator, the wildlife industry, research and the public in achieving responsible wildlife management and the long-term conservation of this resource. These relationships are seen to be finely balanced between the provision of robust science, and evidence-based and cautious or risk-averse decision-making. It is concluded that the public trust doctrine is a powerful tool to limit the impacts of unsustainable and parochial use of wildlife on the conservation of biodiversity. It is also concluded that an improved understanding of the doctrine by researchers, public and the wildlife industry would lead to a greater relevance of research, and in turn sound evidence-based decision-making and ultimately sustainable use of wildlife.
Highlights
The conservation of wildlife is under great pressure with an increasing number of species being listed as vulnerable, threatened or endangered
The rapid decline of wildlife in the late 1800s through unsustainable hunting (Hoffmann & Jungius 1972) precipitated the drafting of the Convention of the Preservation of Wild Animals, Birds and Fish in Africa (1900 London Convention). This convention never came into force, it is regarded as the first multilateral realisation of the threat that the ‘indiscriminate slaughter’ of game was having on wildlife populations (Preamble to the Convention). This convention was replaced by the Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State (1933 London Convention), which came into force in 1936, and which was in turn replaced by the 1968 African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (Algiers Convention), which is currently still in force
The Algiers Convention was substantially reviewed and updated by the African Convention on Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which was signed into being in Maputo in 2003, but this is yet to come into force
Summary
The conservation of wildlife is under great pressure with an increasing number of species being listed as vulnerable, threatened or endangered. The solution to preventing an erosion of the integrity of wildlife lies in the collective recognition of a common resource pool of wildlife and its genetics followed by a long-term view of the consequences of both individual and cumulative impacts arising from its commercial use This may be achieved by the application of responsible management through self-regulation, complexed with regulatory surveillance by the wildlife authorities (Short & Toffel 2010; Van Gestel 2005). Notwithstanding the difference in the effectiveness of these two approaches both options are substantially underpinned by the availability and use of empirical research (Dicks et al 2014; Krausman & Cain 2013)
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