Terrible price for wildlife trade laid bare

Professor Rosaleen Duffy from The University of Manchester blames endemic poaching and human rights abuse on rapacious consumer demand for Ivory, medicines, ornaments, foodstuffs, clothing, bushmeat and caviar -  among other products.

The academic, who has worked extensively in the continent, describes how mercenaries and park rangers are able to kill Africans found without permission in national parks.

Many shootings, she says, are carried out with impunity, whether the intruders are commercial poachers or impoverished local people hunting for food.

“If we examine the idea of a war to protect wildlife carefully, it is clear that it is used to justify highly repressive and coercive policies against the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable people,” she said.

But despite these extreme measures, demand continues unabated – especially for bushmeat, where loggers, miners and road builders are driving demand as well as the African Diaspora.

The academic based in the University’s School of Social Sciences said: “The idea of a ‘war to save biodiversity’ has taken hold; conservation organisations and their supporters have increasingly backed military-style campaigns to prevent poaching.

“Consumer demand from rich communities in Europe, America and China is the root cause of the problem and this is rarely tackled by governments and NGOs.

“The use of deadly force is now common, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where international pressure to save high-profile species is intense.

“The development of nature-based tourism has meant many of these species are definitely worth more alive than dead.

“International NGOs do have genuine commitment to wildlife conservation, but their actions can be more like those of companies engaged in diamond and oil extraction.”

To add insult to injury, the only legal rights to hunt  - in many cases - are held by wealthy European and American sport hunters on trips organized by international safari businesses.

Such unfairness results, she said, in local acts of resistance such as cutting fences, hunting wildlife, setting traps and snares, and  refusing to -co-operate with conservation agencies.

She added: “Subsistence hunting remains a criminal act in many parks and these often marginalised and poor people continue to be treated in exactly the same way and face the same penalties as commercial poachers.

“Surely, conservation agencies risk alienating the very people who live with wildlife, and who may well hold the key to securing wildlife, populations for future generations to enjoy.”
 

Nature Crime: How We’re Getting Conservation Wrong is published by Yale University Press this month.

Professor Rosaleen Duffy is available for comment.

For media enquires contact:

Mike Addelman
Media Relations
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

For Review copies contact:
Jessica Lee
Yale University Press
47 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP
020 7079 4900
www.yalebooks.co.uk

A fact file with more detailed  information is available comprising:
People: Richard Leakey, Dian Fossey, Robert Mugabe
Countries: Central African Republic, South Africa
Animals: tigers, Bushmeat