While ecotourism provides clear, direct economic benefits to countries, those benefits are often underestimated, since the numerous inputs required to support the ecotourism industry are difficult to quantify. For example, items such as food, supplies, transportation, public works, infrastructure, and manpower are required to support ecotourism. Additionally, local citizens employed… read more
Infrastructure and Guns May Curb Wildlife Trafficking
As I discussed in my previous blog post, the US attempts to curb wildlife tracking through foreign assistance. Specifically, FWS provides $10 million annually to enhance and support wildlife conservation throughout Africa and Asia. The funds support essential wildlife protection activities in 25 African countries, including improving capacity to carry… read more
US Foreign Assistance and Ecotourism
The United States supports wildlife conservation and the development of ecotourism in foreign countries primarily through monetary aid. Unfortunately, data that dis-aggregates ecotourism revenue from tourism revenue is not routinely collected. Thus, analysts encounter difficulty when attempting to quantify US monetary support of the ecotourism industry. Nonetheless, ecotourism is a… read more
Hunting Saves the Markhor
Sport hunting by definition reduces an endangered species’ population. However, if wildlife managers charge hunters a substantial fee and use the revenue to support the remaining species’ population, sport hunting may be justified as a conservation tool. An example of the successful implementation of sport hunting as a conservation tool… read more
Sport Hunting Revenue
By one estimate, African sport hunting generates approximately $200 million annually. While sport hunting revenue is a small portion of African countries’ GDPs, it can have a big impact on wildlife conservation and the populations of certain species. This revenue stream is sufficient enough to positively impact conservation and in… read more
Overfishing – Who cares?
Wildlife populations have declined 52% since 1970. This staggering statistic was published recently by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) in their annual Living Planet Report. The question is, where did the animals go? According to the report, and the WWF graphic below, human development and population growth are the primary… read more