Sustainable Use Of Wildlife: A Poorly Understood Concept

South Africa is world-renowned for its biodiversity conservation and resultant variety of wildlife. However, public opinion is often divided on the subject of wildlife utilisation. Dr George Hughes, former chief director of the Natal Parks Board and CEO of its successor, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife before retiring in 2001, explains why sustainable wildlife utilisation is essential for biodiversity conservation.

- Dr George Hughes

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa requires that our natural resources be used in a manner that is sustainable and will not rob future generations of the benefits that can be derived from them.

In the case of the wildlife of Southern Africa, indeed nearly that of all Africa, 250 out of the 350 years since the arrival of the colonial powers saw the exact opposite of what our Constitution requires. By 1900, three large mammal species had been driven into extinction and every other large mammal of any consequence or use had been reduced to minuscule remnants from which no economic or aesthetic benefit could be further derived. All were on the verge of extinction.

TURNING THE TIDE ON WILDLIFE DEPLETION

By the end of the 19th century, however, we in South Africa already had visionaries who were conscious of the tragically mismanaged wildlife resources, and had taken dramatic and unpopular decisions to safeguard what was left. In the then Colony of Natal, the first protected areas for wildlife in South Africa were promulgated in 1895, followed in the Transvaal Republic by Sabi Game Reserve (now Kruger National Park) in 1898.

From then onwards, until the 1950s, a painstakingly slow recovery of the decimated wildlife populations took place within those and additional protected areas.

By the time I joined the then Natal Parks Board in 1961, the wildlife managers of the day had begun to realise that some species, in certain protected areas, had reached, or were nearing, a carrying capacity beyond which predictable damage to the habitat could be experienced.

A decision was taken to remove thousands of animals, firstly by shooting, which proved an inadequate solution, and secondly by live removal for translocation to other protected areas and subsequent sale.

The wildlife managers of South Africa became world-famous for many of the programmes undertaken to restore large mammal populations.