Big money must save megafauna
BY the 22nd century many of the big species — elephants, big cats, gorillas and rhinos — will be extinct unless developed nations fund their protection in the countries where they persist, 44 prominent scientists say.
Peter Lindsey, policy initiative co-ordinator for Panthera’s Lion Programme, said: “We need a significant increase in the level of international support for African protected areas.”
African countries have larger protected areas than the global average and these are beyond their economic power to protect.
In the scientists’ recent declaration for action to save the world’s terrestrial megafauna, they urged the global community to massively increase funding for conservation and research.
They called for greater support for the local people who live with a diversity of “highly valued megafauna” particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
The biggest threats to predators were rapid human population growth, human encroachment on predator habitats, illegal hunting of their prey for the bushmeat trade and the snares in which they can get caught, Lindsey said. “We have evidence that lions are targeted for body parts by poachers. This is emerging as a threat in the region, for example in Mozambique.”
The Great Elephant Census, based on an aerial survey of Africa and research in 18 countries, showed that savannah elephant populations have declined by roughly a third in the past seven years.
Ruminant livestock outnumber wild megaherbivores, like elephants, by nearly 500 to 1 — four billion to 8.5 million.
Big mammals play a critical role in ecosystems and are invaluable to tourism and job creation.
The scientists warned that under a “business as usual scenario” they will soon be writing the obituaries for many species of megafauna.
While international frameworks like CITES have helped safeguard species, the scientists called on nations to unite in funding a new mechanism to save these symbolic species. — Claire Keeton