Hunting Flashcards
Outline the contrasting arguments of hunting?
Utilitarian vs. Preservationist - that the ends justify the means and people need an incentive vs. Nature having an inherent value
Biocentrism versus anthropocentrism
Pragmatism - if it works then do it ( in this case question becomes does it work…?)
Singer 1979
Anti-hunting ethics
Theory of “having an interest”, highlighting wildlife’s capacity to feel pleasure and main
Regan, 1983
Recreational hunting violates animal “rights”
Scruton, 1998
Hunting for fun turns what otherwise might be acceptable into something that is wrong
Wittemyer et al., 2014
Global illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels
E.g. for elephants illegal killing were unsustainable for the species between 2010 and 2012 - peaking at 8% in 2011, which is 40,000 elephants a year - illegal killing increased after 2008 and was correlated strongly with the local market ivory price
Dickinson et al., 2009
Recreational hunting during the colonial period led to huge population decline, and an increase in local extinctions e.g. the near-extinction of the American bison
Who did colonial powers blame for declining populations?
Local communities were blamed
As a result they were banned from hunting whilst colonial elites were still permitted
Colonial administrators failed to acknowledge that it was the dominance of European powers - over-consumption, modern weapons etc. - that resulted in the declines
How did colonial powers respond to declining populations?
Fears that over-hunting would diminish stocks of game for the future led to the establishment of conservation organisations and national park at the start of the 20th c.
These were set up at the expense of displacing indigenous communities
MacKenzie, 1988
Hunting came to have symbolic meaning rather than any practical use - part of “self-defining elite”
Certain animals were acceptable for noble men to hunt
Killing of animals provided a ritualised activity for displaying dominance over nature and inferior social classes
A true gentleman hunted for sport, and “sustainability” - whereas lowlifes hunted to consume and destroy
Jalais, 2008
In India the British perpetuated the “regal” status of the tigers and their relationship with Indian royalty so that in hunting them they could be seen to be successfully dominating the sub-continent’s royal animal (and ergo their royalty)
How do colonial ideas of hunting perpetrate into modern day? (2)
1) The exclusion of locals continues - whereby locals hunting is considered “poaching”
2) Western conservation is still displacing indigenous communities onto land that cannot sustain them - this leads to environmental degradation (which they are then blamed for for overpopulating and being conservative)
Duffy, 2000
Africans are often forced to poach as a means of survival due to being kicked off their own land and often this acts as a form of protest
Mariki et al., 2015
Look at an incident in Tanzania in 2009 (West Kilimanjaro) whereby a group of villagers chased a herb of elephants over a cliff
Conservation was occurring in their locality without local communities having any significant influence on decision-making
Generated feelings of marginalisation and disempowerment
Thus this act was an act of “everyday resistance” as a means of protest (Scott, 1985)
What is CBNRM
Community-based natural resource management
This is the most widely advocated pro-hunting scheme
(But important to note that it is not just hunting e.g. ecotourism also fits in)
Gibson and Marks, 1995
CBNRM originated in the 1970s as a response to the need for more effective conservation strategies and a recognition that local communities have to be involved in decision making and management in order for them to work
How does CBNRM of hunting work in theory?
Allowing SUSTAINABLE hunting by trophy hunters
This works by removing the same number of individuals as are added to the population through natural population growth - moreover specific individuals can be selected e.g. no longer fertile males, who have no “purpose” anymore for the wider population
Trophy hunters pay a significant amount in order to hunt selected individuals
Thus it can provide sufficient income for local communities whilst not depleting ecosystems
In principle this income should reach the household and community level - thus reducing the need to hunt as a source of income, and increasing the need to conserve animals in order to facilitate continuation of this income
Arntzen et al. (2007)
2005
US$590,000 for the Sankuyo community in Botswana
This is much higher than the amounts that can be gained from ecotourism
What are the non-material benefits of poaching?
Empowerment of local people
Lessened dependency on the state (and potentially international aid)
Exposure fo commercial partners and business approaches
Increased proprietorship over wildlife
CBNRM hopes that this will decrease feelings of marginalisation and thus reduce poaching as protest
Fabricius et al. (2001)
At the household level the money is often not sufficient
Elite capture
In small communities (less than 100 households) or very low densities (below 20 people/km2) the income per household can be relatively substantial - however few (if any) communities engaging with CBNRM programmes fit into this framework
Agrawal and Gibson (1999)
Monetary income not large enough to replace meat and cash from hunting
Studied Zambia - implementation of CBNRM schemes did not stop illegal hunting, but instead shifted their methods from firearms to snares, and to targeting of smaller (non-flagship) species
Bwalya (2002)
Zambia Blue Lagoon National Park
Economic benefits and incentives were inadequate and did not have any significant effect on local behaviour and poaching in particular
Marks (2016)
Ignores the cultural significance of hunting
Looks at Bisa people in Zambia’s central Luangwa Valley
Hunting is significant in the way in which they “connect to life around them”
Continued criminalisation of their hunting has increased the despondency, dependency and poverty
“Outsiders seeking to conserve significant areas must extend their cultural boundaries, experiences and vocabularies”
Bandyopadhyay and Tembo, 2010
Created zones in Zambia were people and nature coexist
In recent years, Zambia Wildlife Authority has started sharing some of the revenue and responsibilities with local communities
However households don’t gain equally - those who are actively involved in decision making get more
Ahmad, 1997
Bar Valley, Pakistan
Trophy hunting model - $3000 to kill an ibex - distributed amongst 240 families in the valley
Compensated for loss of wild meat consumption
Every household involved in decision making and management
It was difficult to implement at the start because no immediate gain - therefore required a lot of money to create an extensive monitoring system
However after the program was set up in 1990 uncontrolled hunting in the valley was nearly eliminated
MacKenzie, 1997
Excluding indigenous communities from their own land into increasingly smaller settlements undermined the political and economic basis of these societies and deprived indigenous communities of what had once been a source of food, exchange and ceremony
Logan and Moseley, 2002
The community is not homogenous
Riehl et al. (2015)
Community level benefits may not extend down to the household level
Jones, 1999
Botswana
San tribe
Enjoyed hunting rights through a special license system
However under new CBRNM frameworks they complain that they have been disadvantaged by losing their Special Licenses
The community where they lives was awarded a wildlife quota - but they didn’t benefit as they were not represented in the community committee
Milner-Gillard et al. (2003)
Saiga antelope
A focus on male individuals had decreased the proportion of females conceiving, exacerbating an already steep population decline related to uncontrolled hunting
Palazy et al. (2012)
Upgrading the IUCN status of the most vulnerable African wildlife species has been correlated with an increase in trophy prices
Could lead to exploitation of animals already at threat of extinction
Duffy et al. (2015)
That forceful approaches to conservation can work (e.g. increased patrolling in Serengeti, Hilborn et al., 2006) but militarised approaches can often exacerbate conflicts
E.g. in South Africa, rhino poaching continued to rise despite increased arrests
Rademeyer, 2012
Where poaching is the consequence of organised criminal networks and global commodity chains, tackling just one end of the chain will have limited impact
Naidoo et al., 2016
Evaluated the benefits of tourism and hunting on 77 communal conservancies in Namibia from 1998–2013
Found that hunting started generating benefits after 3 years, and tourism after 6
Ban on trophy hunting significantly reduced the number of conservancies that could cover their operating costs, whereas eliminating income from tourism did not have a big effect
The incomes flowed into different segments of the community
Argued that the best approach is to implement these schemes together as this creates the biggest incentive - a singular focus on either hunting or tourism would reduce the value of wildlife as a competitive land-use option
