Game Ranching and Biodiversity Conservation: encouraging a mutually beneficial partnership

1. Game Ranching and Biodiversity Conservation: encouraging a mutually beneficial partnership Pete Goodman Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife

2. Overview • Introduction – Situation, Problem, Purpose • Principles – What constitutes good biodiversity management and how is it evaluated? • Challenges – Ecosystem manipulation, Species range manipulation, Animal husbandry, Selective breeding. • Addressing Challenges – Legislation, Incentive programmes? • Mechanism – Criteria, Scoring, Categories, Assessment, Incentives • Discussion session

3. Introduction • Situation– ↑ land under wildlife land use, private and communal area far outweighs area under state control • Problems: • Current contribution to biodiversity conservation not known – industry thinks high, regulators not impressed • Contributions to biodiversity conservation are not secure • Purpose – Discuss mechanisms for incentivising good biodiversity management practice in the wildlife industry

4. Aims and Principles – Biodiversity Conservation Aim - Retain the evolutionary potential of systems and species What principles underlie ‘best practice’ Biodiversity Management? • Management units are large enough for the primary landscape processes which determine the structure and function of the system to continue to function • Management aims to restore and maintain the primary ecological processes which are the primary determinants of the structure and function of the system • Management aims to restore and maintain the ‘naturally occurring’ species composition of communities comprising viable populations of each species • Management aims to restore and maintain genetic integrity of populations (heterozygosity and pure lineages are retained, inbreeding and outbreeding depression, and hybridisation is minimised)

5. Measuring achievement • The measuring of performance and achievement in protected areas is well developed – and implemented? • This is not the case in the game industry

6. Challenges • Wildlife ranchers on the whole have different objectives to conservation managers: • Primary driver is economic • Primary constraint is legislative regulation • The outcome of the above is as follows: • Properties are fenced (required by regulation) • Surface water point density is high, positioned without consideration for landscape level processes • Agricultural based range management and manipulation, fire?

7. Challenges cont. • Agricultural animal husbandry practices are applied (food & nutrient supplementation, parasite and disease control) • Large herbivore community depauperate • Out of range species promoted • Selective breeding – colour morphs, higher frequency of trophy animals • Predators – in most cases not tolerated • Do game ranches and farms contribute to biodiversity conservation?

8. Addressing the Challenges • Can the game industry be encouraged to make a greater contribution to biodiversity conservation, if so how? • Legislation – issues around prejudice, capacity to implementation • Incentives – Currently few if any incentives in the game industry to manage for biodiversity conservation – Stewardship? • Other industries have it e.g. Wine and Biodiversity Initiative • Is it not time for a Wildlife and Biodiversity Initiative?

9. Mechanism • Green Game Ranch Certification – How do we develop and implement it? • Develop the criteria – biodiversity management, tourism impact, hunting practice and ethics, game harvest practice and ethic etc. • Develop scoring and weighting • Develop categories – • Identify incentive package – e.g. advertising, support, founder populations, breeding stock • Seek formal stakeholder adoption

10. Discussion • Is there a need for ‘Green Branding’ and certification in the wildlife industry? • Are there any obviously attractive incentives? • Who should be involved in in the development of such a system, and who is likely to fund it? • Who needs to endorse it? • Who and how should it be implemented?