CONSERVATION - Not OUR problem?

[Doug Yanega]

Pierre le Roux wrote:

>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.

Why would you *need* a chainstore? Set up a website, go into business
yourselves, it may be a better deal for you, trading off extra business for
increased profit per specimen. All depends on whether you can produce much
more than you can sell *without* resorting to being in someone's Christmas
catalog. As long as your supply is not *greatly* in excess of demand, an
independent business is better. Carefully choose a few magazines if you
feel you need some print advertisements.

>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:[snip]
>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.

Try to avoid having to import and raise lepidoptera not native to South
Africa. Don't just stick with butterflies, necessarily. And, I suppose if
"any decent scientist" were offered the option of having a chunk of native
habitat either totally destroyed or altering it slightly and raising exotic
leps on it, they might prefer to preserve the habitat (otherwise a
guaranteed loss) at the risk of some alteration and some escapees
establishing elsewhere (a potential loss).

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

Maybe we haven't seen enough background info - such as whether the areas
involved are unaltered native vegetation, what will actually happen to it
if it's not used for lep farming, what leps you have in mind, what
alterations will be needed to convert the area to lep farming, etc. I think
most folks envision "habitat conservation" as leaving an area as unaltered
as possible from its (assumed) "natural" state, whatever that might be, so
maybe part of it is that it's not clear in what way the proposed farms
would represent conservation. If all you're talking about is "culling" leps
from within otherwise protected reserves, it's hard to imagine how this
could be justifiable economically. What exactly *is* the situation?

Peace,

Doug Yanega    Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,
Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG   BRAZIL
phone: 031-448-1223, fax: 031-441-5481  (from U.S., prefix 011-55)
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82