Humans versus wildlife - which is the best economic use of land?
Dec 21st, 2006, 04:27 PM
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Humans versus wildlife - which is the best economic use of land?
A very interesting article appears in the Kenya Daily Nation Newspaper, and can be accessed here:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612210027.html
Which side of the argument would you support and why - that of the wildlife or the human population in the Kitengela wildlife corridor and Athi-Kapiti dispersal area? (In close proximity to Nairobi.)
What the journalist says about distribution of tourist income and how it filters down to the local population is revealing and makes one wonder just how much profit are foreign companies making - in the article John Mbaria states and I quote <i>"...international tour operators retain between 50 and 70 per cent of the money tourists pay to visit Kenya."</i>
Surely if succesful wildlife management is to be employed then more of this alleged retained income should be distributed locally - a question that has been raised elsewhere in Fodors.
What can we as safari goers do? Perhaps raise the point with the travel agent with whom you book the trip?
In the end what worries me most is the fact that human neccesity will triumph over wildlife concerns and then we will all lose out.
Sobering thoughts just before Christmas.
Matt
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612210027.html
Which side of the argument would you support and why - that of the wildlife or the human population in the Kitengela wildlife corridor and Athi-Kapiti dispersal area? (In close proximity to Nairobi.)
What the journalist says about distribution of tourist income and how it filters down to the local population is revealing and makes one wonder just how much profit are foreign companies making - in the article John Mbaria states and I quote <i>"...international tour operators retain between 50 and 70 per cent of the money tourists pay to visit Kenya."</i>
Surely if succesful wildlife management is to be employed then more of this alleged retained income should be distributed locally - a question that has been raised elsewhere in Fodors.
What can we as safari goers do? Perhaps raise the point with the travel agent with whom you book the trip?
In the end what worries me most is the fact that human neccesity will triumph over wildlife concerns and then we will all lose out.
Sobering thoughts just before Christmas.
Matt
Dec 21st, 2006, 09:56 PM
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Hi Matt
No hesitation: <b>Human over wildlife</b>
future? wildlife shall gradually be gone... many parks (including 'World Heritage Sites' &'Biosphere Reserves') will be "strangled" by human (e.g. agricultural) encroachment, by migration-corridors' disconnections etc'...
Though i reckon our grand-children will still be able to game-drive Selous for example...
I generally agree on the " $$ peck-order", but the %50-%70 is an exaggerated figure
We shouldn't forget the corruption factor - example is local Maasai not getting proper revenues from Mara reserve (own county council corruption...)
Aby
P.S.
you r most welcome to contribute to the "REAL CBET" thread
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...11&start=0
PS 2
Man has played a major role in shaping ecosystems (for the "good" & for the "bad" - fodorites angle)
EG Not everybody knows that human intervention has probably created the present Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (It isn't "natural" for those not counting human actions as natural processes). The vegetation is a 'fire sub-climax'.
Had you stopped the man-initiated fires, (many) thousands of years ago, the vegetation & thus the wildlife situation would be totally different.
No hesitation: <b>Human over wildlife</b>
future? wildlife shall gradually be gone... many parks (including 'World Heritage Sites' &'Biosphere Reserves') will be "strangled" by human (e.g. agricultural) encroachment, by migration-corridors' disconnections etc'...
Though i reckon our grand-children will still be able to game-drive Selous for example...
I generally agree on the " $$ peck-order", but the %50-%70 is an exaggerated figure
We shouldn't forget the corruption factor - example is local Maasai not getting proper revenues from Mara reserve (own county council corruption...)
Aby
P.S.
you r most welcome to contribute to the "REAL CBET" thread
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...11&start=0
PS 2
Man has played a major role in shaping ecosystems (for the "good" & for the "bad" - fodorites angle)
EG Not everybody knows that human intervention has probably created the present Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (It isn't "natural" for those not counting human actions as natural processes). The vegetation is a 'fire sub-climax'.
Had you stopped the man-initiated fires, (many) thousands of years ago, the vegetation & thus the wildlife situation would be totally different.
Dec 22nd, 2006, 08:51 AM
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Ian McCallum's book can be obtained through Africa Geographic. He is a former Springbok rugby player, psychiatrist, game ranger and poet. He wrotes thoughtfully about the human condition and what he sees, or hopes to see as an evolutionary shift in mankind toward a position of being more in balance with nature. His collection of poems was given as a leavinbg gift to us at Mombo this year and features some beautiful writing, and I really don't get or like poetry that much.
Dec 24th, 2006, 11:20 AM
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These types of articles are generally simplistic and do not ever explore the true resource economics of land use alternatives. Firstly the 50-70% is just plain wrong. Realistically the STO (standard tour operator) rates are retail less 20% which on average is split 10% to the high street travel agent and 10% for the wholesale tour operator. However the better performing tour operators can negotiate up to 30% based on turnover. So the 50-70% can be disregarded outright.
It is well established that not all land is suitable for intensive agriculture and at the end of the day agriculture is a business not a religious calling and countries that promote agriculture at the expense of alternates are destroying wealth. Wealth and not income in the end lifts people out of poverty. Secure sustainable hard currency based incomes in soft currency enviornments like Kenya (Africa in general too) create more wealth on average over extensive tracts of mixed potential land. While it is true that intensive agriculture can out perform tourism on selected blocks of land it will not do this over the whole area of any park.
In Southern Africa where land ownership and land use planning have been relatively free of any great central planning for some time now have seen more than 3 million ha of farm land converted back to tourism usage. As they say - the answer is the answer. The Kenyan government should do a proper investigation into the alternate uses and take a logic decision in the end - corruption excepted.
It is well established that not all land is suitable for intensive agriculture and at the end of the day agriculture is a business not a religious calling and countries that promote agriculture at the expense of alternates are destroying wealth. Wealth and not income in the end lifts people out of poverty. Secure sustainable hard currency based incomes in soft currency enviornments like Kenya (Africa in general too) create more wealth on average over extensive tracts of mixed potential land. While it is true that intensive agriculture can out perform tourism on selected blocks of land it will not do this over the whole area of any park.
In Southern Africa where land ownership and land use planning have been relatively free of any great central planning for some time now have seen more than 3 million ha of farm land converted back to tourism usage. As they say - the answer is the answer. The Kenyan government should do a proper investigation into the alternate uses and take a logic decision in the end - corruption excepted.
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