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NATURE
CONSERVATION and TOURISM
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Southern
Africa began to place areas under the protection
of the respective governments already in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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Lion
kitten in the Okavango Delta
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In 1895 the former hunting area of the Zulu kings, in the hilly area west of the settlement Hluhluwe, was put under the protection of the British colonial government and is therefore the oldest existing game reserve in Africa. Indeed,
one year before that happended, a region along the
border to the British Swaziland, has already been
demarced by the Volksraad (parliament) of the South
African Republic / Transvaal, as a game reserve.
But only three years after that, the old Pongola
reserve was redissolved by the government. A more
suitable and larger area had been found, north of
Komatiepoort, along the border with Portuguese Mozambique
and a protection zone for game had been established
there in 1897, with the approval of President Krüger.
Later, today's Kruger National Park emerged from
it. |
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In
1907, the administration of the German protectorate
under Governor Friedrich von Lindequist in South
West Africa followed, with the designation of a
game reserve in the area of the Etosha salt pans.
At that time, the focus of the efforts was primarily
on the protection of domestic wildlife. At that
time, concepts for comprehensive nature and landscape
protection, or for the protection of connected biospheres,
were not yet conceived.
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Tourists in the wild: in the Zambezi Rainforest National Park - between the Skeleton Coast and Springbokwasser
Gate - and on the Kosi Bay |
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In the meantime there are many excellent ideas and concepts all over Africa, but there are still considerable gaps and shortcomings in their implementation. Compared to other regions, a lot has been achieved in the east and south of the continent.
If you compare the relevant data in the different countries, the connection between economic development and tangible successes in environmental policy immediately catches the eye.
Well,
this recognition is not new, but you should always
keep it in mind if you want to weigh up the chances
and possibilities on the one hand and possible dangers
on the other. Where natural landscapes and ecosystems
are destroyed, no tourism will develop that could
bring money to rural areas and create jobs. However,
in regions where there is no working economic infrastructure,
the necessary resources to prevent the destruction
of these ecosystems are lacking.
Even
the simplest basics, from simple traffic and transport
routes, through basic education and health care,
water supply, sewage and waste disposal, to basic
energy supply, costs money - no matter which concepts
you pursue. The fact that people still need a roof
over their heads and something to eat is an essential
matter of course that well-provided people from
the western prosperity zones are often no longer
really aware of. This is why Europeans, very often
can no longer imagine that there could be people
somewhere who need to be motivated to preserve the
magnificent nature that still surrounds these people
in many regions of Africa.
But
if the conservation and protection of intact ecosystems
is a way, for the people living there to escape
poverty and misery, the situation is very different.
Then a sustainable way of doing work and business,
that treats natural resources carefully while keeping
vegetation and water supply unimpaired, becomes
a real and tangible option. This person will prefer
and choose the protection of a diverse fauna, through
protection zones and a regulated, sustainable hunting
and fishing system over the all-destroying poaching.
These people are motivated. They now have a real
interest in opposing the overexploitation of nature
and its abundance of wildlife and the destroying
of landscapes. |
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wild
landscapes
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industrial
monuments
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wild
animals
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It
may be a hobby for Europeans and North Americans
to get involved in this or that “noble
cause”.
Whether he or she is doing this out of a "noble
disposition" or just to satisfy the need
for admiration, that remains to be seen. In any
case, they can afford it. However, people in the
rural areas of Africa can develop something that
is much stronger than any idealism: an existential
interest that is based on necessity. At least that's
the theoretical ideal and that's what we're hoping
for. (...and
I think - not entirely unfounded...)
Asian
charlatans and maffia gangs can pay so much
for poached rhino, but by destroying the livelihoods
of the local population, they are creating
their own really well-motivated enemy. After
all, it is not only those who work directly there,
such as chefs, waiters, cleaning staff or tour guides,
who make a living from a sensible tourism infrastructure.
It takes a lot more, such as: farmers, workers in
the food industry, technicians in all areas of water
and electricity supply, workers in transport, waste
disposal, health care, as well as trainers and teachers
for all possible training courses - only to name
just a small selection.
However,
at least a certain grade of economic and political
stability are the "starters", that are
needed to initiate this development. In southern
Africa, there are some areas where tourism has created
opportunities to restore ecosystems, which before
have had already been wrenched from the wild, back
to their original state. One example we can admire
is the iSimangaliso Wetland Park - which extends
from St. Lucia in the south, up to the border with
Mozambique in the north. Not everything is completely
done yet and in some zones, it's intended to let
the wood plantations grow to maturity before these
areas can also be renatured. But what you can already
see after these relatively few years is really amazing.
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amimals
- plants - landscapes
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After
a final conclusion, I want to leave it at that:
Of course there were excesses and undesirable developments
in the tourism industry - in Africa, as well as
elsewhere. But only where there is no development
at all, one can rule out undesirable developments
from the outset.
We
will report and comment on the tourism sector and
its ecological effects on given occasions - here
on this web site and as well on our Facebook page.
If you are also interested in the ecological and
economic connections between nature conservation
and hunting -
then you may also see here: NATURE CONSERVATION and HUNTING in southern Africa.
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