The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorLindsey, Peter Andrewen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBalme, Guy Andrewen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBooth, Vernon Richarden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMidlane, Neilen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-23T12:38:38Z
dc.date.available2015-11-23T12:38:38Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractRecent studies indicate that trophy hunting is impacting negatively on some lion populations, notably in Tanzania. In 2004 there was a proposal to list lions on CITES Appendix I and in 2011 animal-welfare groups petitioned the United States government to list lions as endangered under their Endangered Species Act. Such listings would likely curtail the trophy hunting of lions by limiting the import of lion trophies. Concurrent efforts are underway to encourage the European Union to ban lion trophy imports. We assessed the significance of lions to the financial viability of trophy hunting across five countries to help determine the financial impact and advisability of the proposed trade restrictions. Lion hunts attract the highest mean prices (US$24,000-US$71,000) of all trophy species. Lions generate 5-17% of gross trophy hunting income on national levels, the proportional significance highest in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. If lion hunting was effectively precluded, trophy hunting could potentially become financially unviable across at least 59,538 km 2 that could result in a concomitant loss of habitat. However, the loss of lion hunting could have other potentially broader negative impacts including reduction of competitiveness of wildlife-based land uses relative to ecologically unfavourable alternatives. Restrictions on lion hunting may also reduce tolerance for the species among communities where local people benefit from trophy hunting, and may reduce funds available for anti-poaching. If lion off-takes were reduced to recommended maximums (0.5/1000 km 2 ), the loss of viability and reduction in profitability would be much lower than if lion hunting was stopped altogether (7,005 km 2 ). We recommend that interventions focus on reducing off-takes to sustainable levels, implementing age-based regulations and improving governance of trophy hunting. Such measures could ensure sustainability, while retaining incentives for the conservation of lions and their habitat from hunting.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationLindsey, P. A., Balme, G. A., Booth, V. R., & Midlane, N. (2012). The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land. <i>PLoS One</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15361en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationLindsey, Peter Andrew, Guy Andrew Balme, Vernon Richard Booth, and Neil Midlane "The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land." <i>PLoS One</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15361en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationLindsey, P. A., Balme, G. A., Booth, V. R., & Midlane, N. (2011). The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land. PloS one, 7(1), e29332. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029332en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Lindsey, Peter Andrew AU - Balme, Guy Andrew AU - Booth, Vernon Richard AU - Midlane, Neil AB - Recent studies indicate that trophy hunting is impacting negatively on some lion populations, notably in Tanzania. In 2004 there was a proposal to list lions on CITES Appendix I and in 2011 animal-welfare groups petitioned the United States government to list lions as endangered under their Endangered Species Act. Such listings would likely curtail the trophy hunting of lions by limiting the import of lion trophies. Concurrent efforts are underway to encourage the European Union to ban lion trophy imports. We assessed the significance of lions to the financial viability of trophy hunting across five countries to help determine the financial impact and advisability of the proposed trade restrictions. Lion hunts attract the highest mean prices (US$24,000-US$71,000) of all trophy species. Lions generate 5-17% of gross trophy hunting income on national levels, the proportional significance highest in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. If lion hunting was effectively precluded, trophy hunting could potentially become financially unviable across at least 59,538 km 2 that could result in a concomitant loss of habitat. However, the loss of lion hunting could have other potentially broader negative impacts including reduction of competitiveness of wildlife-based land uses relative to ecologically unfavourable alternatives. Restrictions on lion hunting may also reduce tolerance for the species among communities where local people benefit from trophy hunting, and may reduce funds available for anti-poaching. If lion off-takes were reduced to recommended maximums (0.5/1000 km 2 ), the loss of viability and reduction in profitability would be much lower than if lion hunting was stopped altogether (7,005 km 2 ). We recommend that interventions focus on reducing off-takes to sustainable levels, implementing age-based regulations and improving governance of trophy hunting. Such measures could ensure sustainability, while retaining incentives for the conservation of lions and their habitat from hunting. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0029332 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - PLoS One LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land TI - The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15361 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15361
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029332
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationLindsey PA, Balme GA, Booth VR, Midlane N. The significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild land. PLoS One. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15361.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_ZA
dc.rights.holder© 2012 Lindsey et alen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePLoS Oneen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosoneen_ZA
dc.subject.otherLionsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherElephantsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHunting behavioren_ZA
dc.subject.otherLeopardsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherWildlifeen_ZA
dc.subject.otherZimbabween_ZA
dc.subject.otherTanzaniaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherMozambiqueen_ZA
dc.titleThe significance of African lions for the financial viability of trophy hunting and the maintenance of wild landen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Lindsey_African_Lions_Financial_Viability_2012.pdf
Size:
265.99 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles