COMMENT: Successful conservation attempts must start by recognising the rights of people coexisting with wildlife.
The story of a suspected rhino poacher who was eaten by lions after being trampled by elephants in the Kruger National Park brought global attention to the potential for conflict and even death as a result of contact between humans and wildlife. Other recent wildlife news headlines have revealed public outrage over the potential resumption of elephant hunting in Botswana, and warnings of the imminent extinction of one of the world’s rarest animals, the red wolf in North Carolina.
The insight that local people’s rights must be respected is not new. It was the recognition of the rights of rural people and the enabling of their stewardship of wildlife resources that ensured Southern African countries developed the healthiest wildlife populations and habitats on the continent during the latter half of the 20th century.
But despite decades of experience and rigorous scientific analysis pointing in the direction that conservation must take, these lessons often go unheeded. The extent of the threat to humans is rarely appreciated by those not directly affected. In Botswana over the past two years, 36 people have been killed by elephants; in India, elephants kill more than 100 people every year, and in Kenya more than 200 people have been killed in the last seven years.
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