Conservation... more about people than animals

Through the years, conservation has focused on the preservation of untouched wilderness. Not long ago the greatest prize for conservationists was to gain protected status for an area and then establish rigorously controlled boundaries around these important places - with focus always on the protection of the species that live within these areas.

However, over the years conservation has changed profoundly and those involved in the field have come to realise that protecting an area in isolation is not enough – one has to focus on a much bigger picture. Modern conservation must take surrounding communities into consideration and factor in human/wildlife interactions.

Human impact on the environment is so significant that untouched wilderness areas are critically endangered – only 23% of the world’s land mass can be considered wilderness area. The biggest threat facing wilderness areas is exponential population growth.

In Africa, rapid population growth has led to swift changes in the way the landscape is inhabited and people are now living right next to protected wilderness areas – most of which are unfenced. “This has led to a massive escalation in human wildlife conflict as traditional subsistence agricultural practices in rural villages is incompatible with wildlife, and with this comes a tremendous need to rethink conservation methods and approaches,” says James Suter, producer and director at Black Bean Productions, an independent film production company that recently produced a hard-hitting documentary entitled “The Edge of Existence,” about the human-wildlife conflict issue.

Suter explains that people living on the edge of wildlife areas fight a daily battle with wildlife that enters the villages to plunder crops or food stores or attack and kill livestock and villagers themselves. “A herd of elephants can easily decimate an entire village’s crops in one night – leaving the people without food security or income made through the

sale of excess produce. From the community perspective, subsistence poaching is seen as a right and added to this, there is a massive demand for bush meat – sadly, the bush meat trade has become one of the biggest threats to our wildlife populations.”

While Suter firmly agrees that wilderness areas should be preserved and protected for future generations, he says that at the same time we need to protect the people that live on the boundaries. “It’s a big challenge to try to find community-friendly, conservation-friendly solutions.”

“Conservation used to be about keeping the communities out and protecting the wildlife within. However, conservationists now understand that communities are key if you want a conservation model to work. You need to engage and work with the local people, rather than trying to do things on your own. Without the buy-in of the people, conservation does not work - locals need to see a direct impact of the wildlife that they are now being told to protect.”

Suter explains that the documentary, “Edge Of Existence,” looks at the human wildlife conflict story from an objective perspective. “Modern conservation has to look at both sides of the story. We have to consider the people living with wildlife, and empathise with them, while also looking at protecting the wildlife that is affected by communities encroaching on wilderness areas. “It’s a story that needs to be told and discussed. Conservation is not sustainable unless we find workable solutions to human-wildlife conflict that can support the communities affected. What has been realised at the end of the day, is that putting up a fence is probably the best way to mitigate human wildlife conflict. Either fence these communities in, or have buffer zones, or porous fences where smaller animals can get through.”

However, fencing is expensive and the kilometres are vast. Suter says that Black Bean Productions has partnered with the Grumeti Fund in Tanzania and together they have launched an initiative to raise funds to put up a fence in order to protect communities living on the edge of a human/wildlife conflict hotspot on the western corridor of the Serengeti.

The public can contribute towards a metre, or more, of this necessary fence – which has already started to be constructed. Interested parties can click HERE for more info - there is a donate button at the end of the page, where people can choose how many meters of fence to pay for to support this project.”

The Edge of Existence was lined up for several South African and international film festivals, but all of these have been placed on hold as the world lives through lockdown. Black Bean Productions is currently negotiating with broadcasters to buy and flight the documentary, both in South Africa and internationally.