The Conservation Symposium 2021
Pietermaritzburg
South Africa
The Conservation Symposium is a platform to facilitate the sharing of ideas and lessons, and for the co-creation of solutions to contemporary conservation issues in Africa.
The Conservation Symposium serves as a bridge between conservation practitioners, scientists and policymakers in a conducive environment to solve real-world problems. It integrates a broad range of disciplines in a meaningful way, creating and strengthening connections both within and between disciplines. It provides an effective platform for researchers to demonstrate the relevance of their work in addressing real-world conservation problems, and to identify new applied research opportunities and directions. It also provides a platform for training and skills development for conservation science and monitoring.
Emerging or ongoing issues identified by the conservation sector will be tackled through careful construction of the programme, including providing a selection of leading international keynote speakers, presentation of synthesis papers, and facilitated discussions. It also provides a platform for horizon scanning and exploration of new policy directions.
The Conservation Symposium 2021 will be free and online, thus facilitating participation by African conservation practitioners and expanding its reach worldwide!
AWEI in partnership with Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation is hosting a panel discussion on Values and Value in the Wildlife Economy.
03 Nov 2021 0 09:00-11:15 (CAT)
Panel discussion in collaboration with the African Wildlife Economy Institute and Oppenheimer Generations Conservation and Research
Wildlife conservation and economic development can be aligned through sustainable and inclusive wildlife economies. To do so requires an understanding of how we value wildlife and how these values translate into the ways we govern, manage, and use wildlife. In turn, these underlying values provide the ethical and institutional framework in which wildlife can generate direct value for people in terms of social and economic benefits while contributing to conservation.
Aligning the nexus between how we value wildlife and how wildlife can deliver value for people is critical to ensuring that wildlife economics are both sustainable and inclusive. For example, a recent High-Level Panel Report in South Africa adopted a systems approach to consider how the country’s wildlife economy could better contribute to both conservation and development. It addressed issues related to ethics, governance, and operations, and concluded that “There are massive untapped sustainable socio-economic opportunities from growing an integrated, transformed wildlife economy.”
The Report makes numerous recommendations on complex systemic issues such as a one welfare approach, transformation, international reputation, a national biodiversity policy, governance inefficiencies, cooperation with agriculture, capacity building, wildlife production systems, and responsible wildlife use. Such issues are directly pertinent to growing sustainable and inclusive wildlife economies across the continent. In this session, our panellists will explore how we can address such issues to scale up Africa’s wildlife economies to conserve wildlife through benefiting people.
Panel Members
- Dr Francis Vorhies - Facilitator - Director, African Wildlife Economy Institute, Stellenbosch University; Academic Director, School of Wildlife Conservation, African Leadership University; and Research Visitor, WildCRU, University of Oxford.
- Ms Nonkqubela Mayatula - South Africa - Director, Miarestate Wildlife Estate; Board Member, Wildlife Ranching South Africa; and Chairman, Wildlife Industry Transformation Forum – Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism
- Mr Angus Middleton - Namibia - Executive Director, Namibia Nature Foundation; and former Secretary-General, Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU
- Dr Victor Muposhi - Zimbabwe - Lecturer, School of Wildlife Conservation, African Leadership University, Affiliate for the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), 5th Cohort; and Research Fellow, African Wildlife Economy Institute, Stellenbosch University
- Mr Daudi Sumba - Kenya - Senior Advisor, The Nature Conservancy; and Wildlife Economics Consultant, School of Wildlife Conservation, African Leadership University
A recording of the session
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In a complex and changing world, AWEI generates strategic ideas, conducts independent analysis on wildlife economies, and collaborates with global scholar-practitioners to provide training and expertise for biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and inclusive economic opportunities in Africa.