Attaining sustainable use on private game ranching lands in South Africa

The purpose of this analysis was to elicit the range of views on how game ranching contributes to biodiversity conservation, rather than to measure the distribution of ranchers who engage in
specific stewardship practices. We found that interviewed game ranchers engage in several stewardship practices that are consistent with sustainable use, namely: control of bush encroachment; removal of invasive, exotic plants; erosion control; the use of fire; and active management of game to maintain habitat quality. However, these land stewardship practices were not uniformly adopted by interviewed ranchers, and were not always based on ecological advice.