What's Special About Wildlife Management in Forests? Concepts and Models of Rights-Based Management, with Recent Evidence from West-Central Africa

Abstract

"This paper focuses on consumptive use of wildlife in the informal sector, particularly the consumption and trade in bushmeat in Equatorial Africa, the levels of which are widely believed to be unsustainable. It does not directly address the issues of consumptive and non-consumptive uses in areas of high tourist potential (such as is often the case in southern Africa). Several interesting models of the 'safari' type exist for community involvement in wildlife management in contexts such as these - 'Campfire' being the best known example - and these have been well publicised. Outside these high tourist potential areas, wildlife management is still highly problematic, though it is in such areas that the biodiversity concerns are often greatest (Brown, 1998)."