From the CIC Homepage


Sustainable Hunting Tourism Accepted as Conservation Tool
Barcelona, 9 October 2008





The CIC held a well-attended workshop on 9th October introducing participants of the World Conservation Congress to the concept of sustainable hunting tourism, identifying hunting as one component of the larger tourism economy and emphasizing the need to develop standards and criteria in support of this sustainable use activity.



The workshop addressed the question: In what way do we need to manage hunting tourism to fulfil the criteria for sustainable development? By way of example three invited speakers showed best sustainable use practices from Europe, Africa and Asia that incorporate conservation, social, economic and cultural values of sustainable hunting tourism.



Sardar Naseer Tareen (Director, Society of Thorgar Environmental Protection, STEP, Pakistan), Carolina Lasén-Diaz (Secretary of the Bern Convention, Council of Europe) and Dr. Nigel Crawhall (Director of Secretariat, Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee, IPACC, Namibia) were interviewed by CIC’s CEO Kai Wollscheid and asked about their approach. These three programs included the rescue of the threatened Markhor in Pakistan, the development of the European Charter for Hunting and Biodiversity and the engagement of local communities through the Namibian Conservancy. These efforts were reviewed by Prof. Shane P. Mahoney (Sustainable Development & Strategic Science Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Newfoundland), who also highlighted the importance of hunting in the development of human culture and in the conservation of wildlife generally. Prof. Mahoney emphasized that people are and have always been part of the natural world and depended upon wildlife for their existence. The society of today, however, is increasingly disconnected from the natural world, which has resulted in a loss of understanding of its rules and processes.



The workshop was closed by a lively debate, where non-hunters also had the opportunity to share their concerns about the role of hunting in today’s ecosystems. Reference was made from the representative of WWF regarding the role of political stability in the successful conservation activities. Hunting tourism revenues can be re-invested in conservation whereas protected area entry fees often are not re-invested.



Participants agreed that the hunting industry needs appropriate standards and scientific protocols for monitoring hunting’s conservation benefits and impacts. Hunters have to be more open in collecting and sharing transparent data on their hunting trips to support such surveys.



Dr. Crawhall highlighted during the discussions that “many indigenous people don’t look for thousands of tourists to visit their region to get sufficient income – hunting tourism can generate much more money than photographic tourism, with much less visiting touristsâ€. More benefits with less impact!



Sustainable hunting tourism is not the only solution for the conservation of species, it was stressed, but it has to be considered as one of the most successful and economically viable approaches to the long-term preservation of animal populations, including in some cases, threatened species.



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