Re-imagining Wildlife Management for the Tropics

Abstract

Wildlife as a global and local good and responsibility needs to be re-imagined. As a local resource it needs to be locally managed yet the costs for that require support from all. Contrary to the adverse trends I describe previously there are now many examples where this has started to happen. Where international conventions and national land use improvements have had positive outcomes for wildlife & biodiversity. Where conservation projects from the west have made a difference. Where new ways of harvesting wildlife work or where endangered species, even critically endangered ones, are back from the brink. There are also more and more projects where collaboration between local people, governments, the international community, and even industry has developed which shows results and holds more future promise. New leaders are emerging, not necessarily from the west and a growing number of them indigenous people and women. In much of what happens now wildlife is often the catalyst for bigger things and many of those reflect our growing concerns, and efforts, around accelerating global change which includes the climate. Most importantly, the growing willingness and action around climate change has the potential to become a game changer in the scale of resources allocated. For the first time in human history, the protection of wildlife & biodiversity has become a compelling act of self-interest. The growing momentum around that will be supported by well established action networks which, through the courts, civil action or global consumer pressure can change national and international policies.