Lepidoptera conservation - Developing nations

[Pierre le Roux]

Dear Leps-L subscribers,
It is all well to declare war on commercialization of butterflies & 
moths, but we would like some constructive comments regarding the 
commercialisation of invertebrate species in general ( O.K., if you 
have to, negative comments as well, but be reasonable :-)

In South Africa, we have a very active lepidoptera society, the Lep 
Soc of Africa, and a couple of Butterfly farms have opened in the 
past couple of years, with several more in the planning stage. At 
present, no guidelines exist as to the how these should be operated, 
with resulting confusion regarding import of exotic species (could 
they, for instance, establish locally in subtropical climates if a 
hurricane blew the roof off a flying area?)

As in most countries, the main issue is of conserving habitat, and in 
the underdeveloped/developing countries, money and hunger for 
property often speak strongest - help us to develop a a voice of 
reason before we have the First World's burgeoning problems. As a 
guideline, I rather like the idea of setting aside 30% of any 
property for conserving local indigenous vegetation. 

In about two weeks I'm attending a workshop on the possibilities of 
commercialising invertebrates. Personally I'm for selling farmed 
specimens of the more attractive species, but against collecting for 
selling. There might be good cases made for certain species to be 
collected from the wild with no ill effect on the population. Two 
ideas that come to mind, is to involve local rural communities in 
raising larvae to pupae in sleeves ( apparently done with some 
success in PNG - any references would be welcome), or also the 
possibility of butterfly safari's/hunts - to allow the poor, 
underprivileged Firstworld population the opportunity to catch 
butterflies in unspoilt surroundings to their heart's content, paying a king's 
ransome to the underdeveloped countries for exploiting us ;-)

On a more serious note - I personally have about 70Ha of recovering 
land/riparian bush on our farm, that has been overrun by Lantana camara and 
other invader species - good for nectar(for butterflies) but little else. It would be 
great to recover the area by removing the invaders, and replanting with 
butterfly foodplants ( we have about 100 species of butterflies & 
1000 species of moths on the farm).Tthe cost of such a project would 
however be prohibitive unless I can recover some/offset it against an 
income generating project. B.T.W, the farm is in our family since 
1940, and the invadeing plants have been introduced by my well-meaning 
forbearers & friends, and generously distributed by the local 
indigenous birds.

Regards to you all, and waiting for some comments,
Pierre le Roux Tel&Fax:+(27)-15-583-0084
P.O. Box 8
0929 Levubu
South Africa