CONSERVATION - Not OUR problem?

Pierre le Roux arbor at cis.co.za
Sun Oct 12 15:13:09 EDT 1997


Dear Leps L readers,
 
This week I'm attending the workshop on commercialisation of 
invertebrate species mentioned in earlier postings.

 My views are that one should be able to farm 
the common, showy butterflies, preferably for sale as dried material 
to overseas collectors. This obviously is a miniscule market, and 
would not provide a decent income for a community. The alternative is 
to breed massive quantities of a few showy species, and make them into 
wall mounts, and sell them specifically with the view of raising 
funds for conservation. This should be a workable solution, provided 
you can find a chainstore who would do this type of thing.

As you (Chris Conlan) rightly say: This goes against the grain of any descent 
scientist, but I have to face the stark realities of living in 
Africa: Here, South Africa consumes 3x as much electricity as the 
whole of the rest of the continent, and still 60% of our S.A. households 
are dependant on wood as their primary fuel source. As you can 
imagine, the areas with the highest rainfall were colonised heavily ( 
to be close to fuel & grazing). This resulted in 80% of the 
population living on 2-3% of the land: These are also our prime spots 
for biodiversity conservation.

I'm sadly disillusioned with the Leps-L newsgroup: After the big song 
and dance about a individual who caught a few hundred non-protected 
species in  American reserves, I expected at least a couple of 
comments on the group about conservation in developing nations, and 
hints on what we should try and avoid/implement.

In particular, what would be a good size for a reserve: We have one 
thriving example of 12Ha set up for a rare Lyceanid (in the midst of a 
upper-middleclass suburb of Johannesburg), and the one I'm 
interested in saving, is 1000Ha in extent, housing at least 200 
speciesof butterlies, probably more ( A full survey still needs to be done, 
and we keep finding 10-30 "new" species whenever a trip is organised. This 
prosed reserve is situated right on the edge of a community that is
desperately in need of development assistance, if the woodland is to be saved 
from being razed to the ground by wood collecting & grazing. About 
10X as many moths are found, and the reserve has been proposed as a 
Cycad reserve (Encephalartos transvenosus).

The questions addressed to the group I felt were pertinent, and deserving 
of comment, but I have only the comments ( about 130) on the American 
situation) and TWO(!) direct replies on my own questions, to take to 
this week's workshop.

I hope this is not a general attitude: As long as it does not happen 
on MY doorstep, it doesn't bother me.

Regards,
Pierre le Roux Tel&Fax:+(27)-15-583-0084
P.O. Box 8
0929 Levubu
South Africa


More information about the Leps-l mailing list