PART II

CRITICAL ISSUES IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN AFRICA

CHAPTER THREE

VALUES IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

The Issue

People value biological resources in different ways: spiritually, economically, aesthetically, culturally, and scientifically. Values may also be influenced by the different perspectives found at the local, national, or international levels. Collective and individual values in turn, can significantly influence patterns of natural resource use to form the foundation of biodiversity conservation.

The concept of values encompasses a constellation of social norms and individual attitudes, all of which may play a role in the conservation of biodiversity. Planners and policy-makers need to have techniques for clarifying and assessing differences in values as they relate to biodiversity conservation. However, the empirical study of biodiversity conservation values is generally limited at present to microeconomic analysis, as other disciplines have been slow to develop suitable techniques.

Values and Levels of Analysis

Biodiversity values may differ at the local, national and international levels. Conservation of biodiversity is directly relevant to local residents, for whom biological resources often represent their primary source of livelihood, medicine, and spiritual values. Nation-states may also express values related to biological resources, often in relation to economic benefits brought about through biological resource use both consumptive (timber harvesting, hunting) and nonconsumptive (tourism). Biodiversity conservation has become an international issue as well, based on a global concern for maintaining the existing species richness on earth, expressed in terms of the common heritage of humans (Johnson, in prep.). Differences in values can be difficult to reconcile. It is important to be able to clarify different values that underlie positions taken on various sides of a given issue relevant to 47 biodiversity and to understand how these values can affect the willingness to adopt different patterns of resource use or to reach compromises.

Differences in values often depend on the relationship to the resource in question. For local residents, a given biological resource may represent an essential economic activity and may also be important for cultural or religious reasons. Where other options or substitutes are not readily available, too expensive, or unacceptable, local resource users may defend their right of access vigorously (see Box 8).

At the international level, the protection of a given resource may be justified by symbolic associations, or because it plays a role in the global environment, or both. For example, the tropical forest of the Amazon basin plays a global climate function, and for many its deforestation has become a symbol of irresponsible resource destruction. Often, these factors are said to outweigh individual, corporate, or national benefits gained from exploitation. From this perspective, it may be felt that those directly responsible for natural resource exploitation should modify their behavior toward less damaging patterns, a process that is often said to require a change of values, attitudes, or environmental ethics (Nelson 1979).

In general, changes in patterns of local resource utilization are more easily advocated as one moves up from the local level to the national and international levels. While the costs of finding alternatives typically fall on local residents, many of the benefits ("option value," "existence value," and certain environmental services) accrue to all levels.

Methods of Studying Values

In the sociological sense, values are "abstract and often unconscious assumptions of what is right and important" (Rodgers and Burdge 1972). A value system is "a system of established values, norms, or goals existing in a society" (Webster's 1986). Values are social and cultural phenomena, and their influence on biodiversity conservation may be subtle and difficult to ascertain. Environmental and conservation issues are frequently described as conflicts of values (Petulla 1980). Articles on conservation frequently mention a need for changes in values.

Environmental values or attitudes toward nature as well as values concerning wealth, posterity, and development may be reflected in different patterns of resource utilization. They can also point to potential conflicts where values and actions are inconsistent or where the value systems of different groups are not in accord. Three levels of analysis can be used to study values: (1) individual expressions of value commitments, (2) group behavior that reflects underlying values, and (3) cultural expression through art, literature, or other symbolic forms that reveal values (Means 1969).

In principle, the study of these values should be both cross-cultural and interdisciplinary, but in practice the most widely used techniques are those of economists. Economic values associated with biodiversity can be measured by how much people would be willing to pay for various attributes or functions of this diversity or to accept for their loss (Randall 1988). However, tracing a linkage between value systems and economic transactions involving biological resources is not an easy task, and many important values may be lost or obscured in the process.

In part, this is because neoclassical economics makes the assumption that people value the things they do for their own private and rational reasons (Randall 1988). Economic analysis therefore takes at face value individual statements concerning utility and preferences. In this sense, economics is an individualistic discipline, treating society as an arithmetical aggregation of individuals, or "sovereign 49 consumers." Group dynamics and collective or national values are not topics that lend themselves to economic analysis.

The study of values reflects the arbitrary boundaries of various disciplines within the social sciences. The anthropologist Cyril Belshaw described how this problem inhibits application of social science analysis to public policy making:

Many of the issues impinging on the life of the household can and should be thought of in terms of the structure of social relations (sociology and anthropology), the formation of values (anthropology and education), small group analysis (social psychology), power interactions (political science), choice of ends and means (economics), prior influences (history), jural status (sociology and law), the influence and relevance of space in social relations (geography), and the application of mathematical models such as systems analysis, linear programming, and the like scattered through all the disciplines (Belshaw 1976).

Most of the techniques discussed below have been developed by economists and are used for appraisal of publicly financed projects (for example, a new dam or airport or the creation of a national park). These techniques, which can be quite complex and time-consuming, and therefore costly, provide a "snapshot" of values and preferences captured at the time of the analysis. Few techniques exist as yet for monitoring or assessing values over time, and for applying these in broader policy-making or administrative situations, even though the latter may be more relevant to the conservation of biodiversity in Africa.

Furthermore, in practice these techniques are often applied in rather simplistic ways that ignore important social and other factors that are not readily quantified. As a result, project decisions have often been based on faulty assumptions, and the track record of microeconomic tools for public policy decisions has been, at best, mixed.

Economic Valuation of Biodiversity

Actions that produce changes in aggregate welfare can be analyzed with cost-benefit analysis (CBA), to determine their effect on economic efficiency (Hyman and Stiftel 1988). This is done by comparing streams of costs and benefits over time, adjusted by a discount rate often defined as the opportunity cost of capital. Market prices may be adjusted to compensate for market imperfections or to reflect policy or social objectives. Thus, shadow prices and social discount rates extend financial analysis, by including nonmarket benefits and highlighting consequences for society as a whole rather than for individuals or firms (Hufschmidt, et al. 1983). For example, benefits from watershed protection may be estimated, incorporating ecological services into the analysis. A social rate of time preference different from the opportunity cost of capital may also be selected to capture society's concern for the welfare of future generations (Pearce, Barbier, and Markondya 1990).

An extended CBA on Korup National Park in Cameroon demonstrated that the loss of environmental services, such as watershed protection, can provide an economic justification for halting deforestation (WWF-UK 1989). An analysis of the Hadejia-Jama' area floodplain in northern Nigeria similarly showed that returns from agriculture, fishing, and fuelwood collection exceeded those from proposed 50 development upstream (Aylward and Barbier 1992). Aylward and Barbier have also proposed that the attribute of biological diversity should be given more emphasis in economic analysis of ecological services (Aylward and Barbier 1992).

Where benefits are not quantifiable, cost-effectiveness analysis may be used to select the least costly of a range of choices accomplishing the same goal (Dixon and Sherman 1990). If a given level of biodiversity could be selected for conservation in a given case, cost-effectiveness analysis might indicate the most economic means of achieving that level of conservation, without needing to identify and quantify all relevant benefits in terms of option value, existence value, and so forth. In situations in which a "safe minimum standard" approach to biodiversity conservation is selected (Randall 1988), cost-effectiveness analysis might be an appropriate technique for studying options. Also, where quantification is difficult and analysts disagree about precise measures, lower-bound values often can provide sufficient basis for decision making (Hyman and Stiftel 1988).

Various indirect techniques are also available for analysis of nonmarket environmental values. Some of these involve surveys, bidding games, or other participant-observer procedures for studying the preferences of those who would be affected by proposed developments (Hyman and Stiftel 1988; Hufschmidt, et al. 1983). Many of these techniques have been developed in connection with environmental impact assessments in industrialized countries, and most are based on microeconomic theory, although some also claim origins in information or decision theory, social psychology, or other disciplines (Hyman and Stiftel 1988). Using these techniques, environmental options can be empirically analyzed even in the presence of value conflicts (Nelson 1979). However, such methodologies may be subject to several sources of bias (Hyman 1981), and it is not clear how well they might apply to biodiversity conservation problems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Value Change and Biodiversity

Values and value systems can affect how natural resources are used or abused, conserved or wasted. These patterns may change over time and other trends may also affect the relationship between values and resource use. In many traditional societies, natural resource use tended to cause little damage to biodiversity, in part because of low population density. In addition, these societies fostered belief systems as well as social norms that encouraged or even enforced limits to exploitation. Some of the mechanisms by which these values were expressed included seasonal bans on hunting or setting aside certain areas for the exclusive use by a king or other leaders (Musonda 1987).

Economic change, population growth, and other factors have brought far-reaching shifts in traditional patterns. Urbanization is especially identified with changes in lifestyles and value systems and with a distancing from customary relationships between humans and nature. Even in rural areas, the expanding role of national governments has displaced traditional responsibilities for resource allocation and management (Little and Brokensha 1987).

In the area that is now Zambia, the chitemene, or shifting cultivation system, represented a stable and sustainable production system for centuries, if not longer (see Box 3, Chapter 1). Relying on forest biomass for natural fertilizer, the chitemene system was ecologically sustainable at low population densities. However, at densities higher than approximately three persons per square kilometer, deforestation can occur as forest biomass becomes overexploited and fallow periods become too short for natural regeneration (Chidumayo, in prep.).

Such production methods, and the values that underlie and reinforce them, were well adapted to local conditions in the past, but, in some cases at least, they are now becoming obsolete and perhaps counterproductive. How to retain the best attributes of traditional societies under conditions of rapid modernization and urbanization must be considered one of the most pressing issues for African nations. As difficult as this challenge may be, it is necessary because modern values and methods have proven in many cases to be highly damaging to biodiversity and incapable of providing acceptable standards of living for many African people.

Because of the rich and varied ethnic composition of sub-Saharan African societies, it can be misleading to generalize about "African" values and value systems. Such generalizations often are little more than simplistic stereotypes that shed little light on important distinctions and subtleties. Thus, as a basis for policy recommendations, the search for traditional values that can reinforce biodiversity conservation should avoid comparing African societies against one another or against non-African societies. Instead, there is a need to assess various ways in which cultural practices and value systems have fostered conservation in specific settings and to investigate how such cases can be encouraged, strengthened, and replicated in appropriate ways.

The sacred groves of Ghana offer one example of tangible conservation benefits that result from the continued observance of traditional beliefs. Also in Ghana, taboos have exerted a restraining influence on the harvesting of certain species of fish and mollusks in sacred lagoons. These and other cases are discussed in Chapter 4, along with suggestions for better understanding indigenous ideas and applying them to biodiversity conservation (see Box 9). Although considerable anthropological work has been done on belief systems and agricultural practices in sub-Saharan Africa, more work that explicitly focuses on the role of biodiversity within traditional systems is needed.

Changes in values may also depend, to a certain extent, on increasing the knowledge and understanding of the uses of biological resources and the ecological systems in which the resources are obtained. As knowledge of an important new use of a resource is recognized, the value is often increased. For example, the value of certain plants to the development of medicines or as genetic sources for new crop varieties has increased their value in all levels of society. Similarly, the value of certain ecological functions increases as the level of understanding increases, such as the value of intact forests to watershed management for local agriculture and climate stabilization for entire regions. This linkage between changes in values and education or increased awareness is further developed in Chapter 8.

Values and Sustainable Development

For development to become sustainable in Africa, the present rate of biodiversity loss must be brought under control. Adapting certain aspects of traditional African production systems to present-day conditions may offer a practical means of accomplishing this. In this sense, it is important to emphasize traditional African value systems and the specialized roles of producers and providers of knowledge about the surviving systems of biodiversity. Indeed, these traditional systems and roles may be as important as specific conservation techniques in helping to reverse present trends of destruction of biodiversity. Yet these value systems must also be able to function in rapidly changing and 52 industrializing societies. Modifying or combining aspects of traditional and modern value systems is no easy, however, nor is it clear who bears the responsibility for doing so. Moreover, it is evident that better tools are needed for empirically analyzing values and their relationship to the conservation of biodiversity.

It is important to remember that African values are not static. Modern or contemporary, as well as traditional, values exist in Africa today, and it should not be assumed that all change will be in one direction, from "traditional" to "modern." Value systems compatible with sustainable development cannot be prescribed. They must emerge through local participation and with respect for traditional beliefs and practices that have effectively conserved biodiversity for centuries. In this respect, Africa's great ethnic diversity constitutes one of its greatest assets. Each distinct culture represents a unique human "solution" to the challenges of living in a particular ecological zone, yet this knowledge-and the values that underlie it has barely begun to be recognized in the process of development. These factors will be discussed in Chapter 4.

CHAPTER FOUR

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND BIODIVERSITY

The Issue

Environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity in Africa results from a variety of factors, including, and perhaps most importantly, the lack of recognition, understanding, and use of Africa's indigenous knowledge, technology, and practices. The knowledge and skills developed by Africans over many millennia to adapt to and manipulate their land, flora, and fauna constitute an invaluable resource. Indigenous knowledge and skills are key resources that should be used in conjunction with their Northern counterparts in the effort to craft sustainable biodiversity conservation programs.

Many aspects of biodiversity and its conservation may be found embedded in Africa's indigenous taxonomies, food production practices, and religions. Attention to species diversity is reflected in highly detailed classifications of plant and animal species. Concern for maintaining and developing cultivar and herdstock diversity is well documented for numerous populations. Finally, concepts affirming an ecological balance or interdependency between human, plant, and animal life can be identified in many indigenous religions.

Respecting Indigenous Knowledge

Recognition of indigenous knowledge is the first step in the evaluation and selective use of such knowledge in biodiversity conversation programs. Indigenous knowledge has been available to outsiders for some time, but until recently much of this information was largely ignored for a variety of reasons:

• It was assumed during the colonial era that Africans had little knowledge to impart and that African land-use practices were primitive and destructive relative to European and Asian techniques. Widespread practices such as slash and burn agriculture, for example, were cited as destructive of forests and of soil fertility, and as responsible for environmental degradation.
• Over time an image evolved of African societies as timeless, unreflective, tradition-bound, and as passive adaptors to their environment rather than as analysts and manipulators of it. Top-down development projects which ignored the existence of local expertise were a logical consequence.
• Post-colonial educated Africans were supportive of Northern models of development. Only recently has there been substantial interest among African elites in indigenous knowledge and skills.

Indigenous Knowledge of Flora

Cultivated Species

Diversity of cultivars is highly prized by African cultivators. In the Zaire River basin, cultivators have been recorded as planting as many as 60 different cultivars in their fields, and fields containing over 30 cultivars were common (Miracle 1967). In West Africa, individual rice farmers may plant 8-10 different varieties per farm, carefully matching types of rice to specific soil moisture conditions (see Box 10). At any given time, 25-50 varieties of rice might be in use in a single village (Richards 1985). In East Africa, Bukusu diets include over a hundred different fruits and vegetables drawn from at least 70 genera (Juma 1989).

African cultivators stress food diversity and security over high productivity in their resource management. Their techniques include carefully managed crop species and cultivar diversity, staggered planting and harvesting dates, mixed cropping, relay cropping, cultivar mixtures within plots, and the planting of scattered crops in a variety of microenvironments. They also have numerous insect-control techniques. Cultivators use techniques such as intercropping to stabilize yield fluctuations, facilitate pest, weed, and disease control, provide soil cover far longer than single culture crops, and optimize available soil moisture for crop production.

The Dogon in Mali create elaborate compost piles and carefully tend and modify the structure and quality of their soils. They also plant and tend groves of a variety of the soil-enriching Acacia whose leaves they use for fodder and whose shade shelters their crops. These techniques have enabled them to remain in certain areas of Mali for centuries.

Many techniques once labelled "primitive" have been vindicated by modern soil science, particularly those associated with shifting cultivation. Incomplete clearing of fields, leaving stumps and some large trees, keeps root systems intact to help bind the soil when the rains come, thus reducing the potential for erosion. Another example of appropriate traditional practices, the ancient technique of shallow plowing, has more recently become known as "minimum tillage" (Lal 1979). It is a superior technique particularly in low-quality rain-intensive soils. After 30 years of testing alternatives, Belgian agronomists eventually embraced "slash and burn" as the optimum clearing and cultivation method. Burning proved, in forest zones, to be more effective in soil enrichment than burial of green compost.

Other Flora

Wild plants are valued as sources of food, medications, and numerous other uses. Studies of !Kung hunter-gatherers in southern Africa have documented a rich and detailed knowledge of local flora. Individuals queried by a plant taxonomist supplied names for 206 out of 211 plant varieties collected. !Kung often made finer distinctions between plants than did the taxonomist. In one recent survey among Kenya's Bukusu, 47% of households reported gathering fruits and vegetables from the wild. Some 12% reported tending plants in the wild and 32% brought wild plants into the homestead for purposes of domestication (Juma 1991a).

Cultivators' knowledge of the characteristics and habits of medicinal trees and herbs, is extensive. Frequently, this knowledge is the domain of women. In West Africa, the non-recognition by most men of women's knowledge of medicinal plants, has been documented (Marilyn Hoskins, cited in Norem, et al. 1989). And in east Africa, an elaborate inventory of such plants has been compiled with indexing both by Northern and African botanical terms.

Groups such as Kenya's Mbeere classify trees using the criteria of size, flowers, shade, general appearance, and, most notably, usefulness. Trees are classified as sources of: the hard slow-burning charcoal essential for the local blacksmithing industry, house-construction poles, sapwood for a honey collector's barrel-hive, fodder for livestock, edible leaves and fruits, termite-resistant heartwood for implement handles, and the virtually indestructible black heartwood used for ritual objects and furniture. The Mbeere even germinate and plant seeds of the Mukau tree in order to profit from its valuable wood. While agricultural deforestation is admittedly a growing problem, indigenous models of resource use that promote biodiversity can be identified.

Indigenous Knowledge of Fauna

Domesticated Livestock

African herders, like African cultivators, maintain genetically diverse stock and vary the composition of their herds to match local environmental characteristics. Such knowledge among pastoralists helps them adapt to their environment in ways that advance long-term conservation. Seasonal and frequent daily movements of herds between pasturages help prevent overuse of a single area's biomass. Herd diversification (cattle, camels, sheep, goats, and donkeys) ensures the presence of both browsers and grazers and reduces the probability that a single disease will wipe out an entire herd.

Herders search for scarce pasturage by monitoring environmental elements such as changes in temperature, the appearance of fog or clouds, air movement, or sky colors and conditions. Numerous groups of herders have specific terms for diverse kinds of pasturage. Southern Sudanese herders, for example, classify cattle by criteria of color, skin patch patterns, horns, sex, and age.

In the Sahel, symbiotic relationships between herders and agriculturalists (meat, milk, and manure exchanged for cereals and for grazing and stock-watering rights) effectively exploit the rainfall-dependent resource base. With "modern" resource-use strategies in the area (cash-crop monoculture and nomad sedentarization) proving environmentally devastating, sedentary and destitute pastoralists are successfully employing indigenous strategies and practices to reestablish herds. In Niger, mimicking the local practice of stock sharing, the "animal of friendship" or Habbanaje, (a nongovernmental organization) purchased livestock locally, then loaned it to destitute pastoralists. After three calvings, each borrower would return the original animal or its equivalent value in kind or cash, while retaining the three offspring (Scott and Gormley 1980).

African pastoralists have also developed sophisticated techniques to maintain stock health. Ethnoveterinary studies have documented elaborate classifications of cattle diseases and their remedies among East African pastoralists (Mathias-Mundy 1980). In Nigeria, one survey identified some 92 herbs and plants used in ethnoveterinary medicine. Fulani, WoDaabe and Maasai all vaccinate against bovine pleuropneumonia, and the Maasai vaccinate against rinderpest as well. These pastoralists' indigenous technique of vaccinating through the nose proved superior to early Northern commercial vaccines administered in the tails; as the latter vaccinations often resulted in necrosis and the loss of the tail (Mathias-Mundy 1980).

Livestock reproduction is manipulated by some groups. In the Sahel, Tuareg knowledge of the timing of the sheep reproductive cycle and its relationship to that of the seasonal cycle gives them considerable control over stock breeding. The Tuareg are able to selectively use penile sheaths on rams to ensure that lambs are not born at the end of the dry season when the nutritional status of the ewes is very poor.

Other Fauna

South Africa's !Kung knowledge of animal species and their behavior is extensive, particularly prey species. Hunters clearly distinguish, for example, between newborn caching and following behaviors after births among ungulates. Accounts of carnivores' stalking, killing, eating, and meat burying or hiding behaviors were, with only one exception, consistent with ethologists' field observations elsewhere in Africa. In tracking game, !Kung weigh environmental elements time of year, time of day, heat, wind direction, terrain, depth, shape and displacement of tracks, condition of feces, condition and displacement of grass, twigs and shrubs along the spoor, amount, position, and color of blood on the ground, grass, and bushes as well as a store of knowledge concerning behavior and habitat (Blurton-Jones and Konner 1976).

Among hunter/farmers of north central Zaire, the forest environment is highly differentiated. The Apagibeti distinguish between three different kinds of forest namely white, black, and vine forest depending on the prevalence of specific species of trees in each. And within this overarching division, Apagibeti distinguish a multiplicity of other domains. There is forest with or without kongo (a leaf crucial to shelter roofing), with or without water (meaning not only an absence of streams but also lacking in any of the half-dozen species of water-bearing vines or trees on which hunters depend), with or without woke (shallow forest lakes, stream-fed and emptied, whose banks serve as a habitat for specific species sought by hunters), with or without wume (grassy clearings favored by buffalo and other game), and so on.

Game resource use with clear biodiversity conservation implications can be identified in these various forest zones. Some hunter/farmers in Zaire conserve forest resources by forbidding hunting during the dry season to "let the animals rest" until the next rainy season. They also rotate the sections of forest in which they trap game during the hunting season, again explicitly so as to "let the animals rest" or to "let the animals give birth" (Almquist 1991).

Understanding of Indigenous Knowledge

Baseline research on indigenous knowledge, technologies, and practices is a priority for sustainable biodiversity conservation programs. It is crucial that the contents of a con-imunity s environmental knowledge be compiled. Methods are needed to effectively elicit, analyze, and elucidate what local inhabitants know and the process by which they obtain knowledge.

Research Methodologies and Design

Research methodologies should respect the complexity of human environments. Only after the conventions governing communication in a group under study have been given at least rudimentary examination should information-gathering techniques be selected. Like farming and hunting, speaking and question-asking are culturally-based activities that have their own rules. These rules can become clear to researchers through ethnographic studies of speaking and linguistics. If such long-term studies are not possible, it can be appropriate to consider methods that allow indigenous structuring of information flow, such as open-ended questionnaires or the presentation of "what-if" scenarios. Ideally, any such research method selected should in some way be analogous to local communicative conventions.

Research designs should consider the ways in which knowledge is distributed within a social group. Among the Mbeere, for example, older women know the most about small annual herbs; herd boys, the range of wild edible fruit; and honey collectors, the local environments" flowering sequences. Gender, age, and occupation can all affect the distribution of knowledge. It is particularly important for researchers to remember that, historically, their counterparts have overlooked indigenous women's knowledge of plant species and their uses (Norem, Yoder and Martin 1989). Researchers should make full use of existing data bases on indigenous knowledge systems, such as those maintained by the Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development (CIKARD) at Iowa State University. Some nine such centers currently exist worldwide, with 18 others in the process of being established (Warren 1992).

Ownership of Knowledge

Knowledge may be owned either individually or corporately. Knowledge can also embody relations of power. The importance of who owns and receives benefits from knowledge is illustrated by the ongoing controversy in developing countries concerning Northern pharmaceutical corporations' exploitation of indigenous knowledge of valuable medicinal plants. If, for example, a biodiversity conservation program includes a flora survey component, it is important that questions of ownership of the local knowledge used in that survey be addressed (see Chapter 6).

Applying Indigenous Knowledge to Conservation Programs

Indigenous knowledge and practices that conserve or advance biodiversity should be used as the basis for developing and implementing indigenously rooted biodiversity conservation programs. Indigenous knowledge can be used within a biodiversity program from its inception. This not only integrates local knowledge into program planning but also increases the likelihood of the program being sustainable. Forest conservation or regeneration programs could reference and exploit indigenous traditions of tree care and cultivation instead of basing them exclusively on non-African models.

National or international project personnel could be key catalytic agents in disseminating and adapting indigenous biodiversity-relevant knowledge from one group to another. Local knowledge can help advance conservation efforts in a variety of ways. For example:

• When program planners understand the full range of fauna and flora that different indigenous groups use, the planners can better assist the transfer of knowledge among groups. In one conservation initiative, it was found that one group's use of a medicinal plant to protect young fruit trees from termite attack was unfamiliar to another group with the same problem. The second group was, however, already aware of the plant and its mode of preparation and used it in another context, that of fish poisoning. Recognition by planners of knowledge that the second group already had about the plant helped facilitate its transfer and adoption to a new use context a tree protection program (Sharland 1989).
• Local knowledge can be tapped as a shortcut to compiling an inventory of biological resources. This has been done successfully in the conduct of soil and crop surveys in southern Sudan.
• Local knowledge can serve as a basis for environmental monitoring and as an early warning system of ecological changes. Knowledge of indigenous indicator species such as the cassava-eating grasshopper Zonocerus in Nigeria is one useful example. Local knowledge of the dates, severity, and geographical extension of specific Zonocerus outbreaks, not observed by a Northern research team, together with data on the range of crops attacked and the local significance of those crops, proved an invaluable addition to one research team's findings (Richards 1985).
• Local observers can act as monitors of faunal and floral growth, distribution, and change. They can structure their observations in their own terms, rather than passively using Northern terms. This can allow Africans to capture distinctions that cannot be noted using Northern categories.
• Finally, indigenous ideology can serve as a resource for conservation metaphors and practices. The Northern contrast between knowledge and belief obscures the significance of non-Northern accounts and practices that predicate the activity of spiritual agents. The North honors indigenous knowledge but dismisses indigenous beliefs as "primitive" or "superstitious." Many African conservation practices are unintelligible without reference to ideas that are labeled beliefs. Yet those ideas have significant potential for use in biodiversity conservation programs. As Richards has argued for agronomists, "an idea borrowed from the people, developed by the agronomist and returned to the people, is much more likely to be adopted than something alien to the culture" (Richards 1985). While the one-way agency in Richards' formulation is problematic, the underlying idea is useful.

Applying Indigenous Ideas

Protected Areas

The demarcation of large areas as restricted hunting zones for indigenous elites, as among the Lozi, can be found in African societies and has sometimes served as the basis for modern parks. Lesser known are the many scattered, smaller areas protected from hunting and agricultural use by the force of local belief. Protected areas believed to be the residence of spiritual agents can still be found throughout much of the continent. While their small size generally precludes their serving as substantial reservoirs of biodiversity, they do sometimes serve to preserve individual species of plants and animals and are useful, visible reminders to local populations of the rich value of local flora and fauna (see Box 12).

The Boabeng/Fiema Wildlife Sanctuary in Ghana protects a local species of monkey. This sanctuary was established through the initiative of the local Boabeng and Fiema communities who view this monkey as a representative of local forest and land spirits. As an example of biodiversity conservation programs initiated "from the bottom up," this model deserves close attention.

Marine Conservation in West Africa

In West African coastal areas, certain lagoons traditionally were considered sacred places by the local inhabitants. Specific species of fish and mollusks were protected, with their harvest regulated by a system of closed seasons, sacred days, and taboos. The old rules and regulations are no longer respected, however, and most lagoon fisheries are heavily overexploited. Nevertheless, tabooed species continue to be protected (Ntiamoa-Baidu 1991b). Similar taboos are widespread in Africa, and their potential utility in biodiversity conservation programs should be assessed by biodiversity conservation planners.

Territorial Cults

Among the Shona and some other peoples of central and southern Africa, the ancestors of the indigenous inhabitants of the land are believed to speak to the living through spirit mediums. The medium is identified with a specific hill or rock or grove and its territorial environs are protected from disturbance. Historically, the mediums have been consulted regarding rain and land-use practices. On some occasions, mediums have actively counseled resistance to specific colonial land-use policies and tillage techniques (Ranger 1985).

Zimbabwe's Joseph Matowanyika argues that these territorial cults articulate an implicit Shona environmental ideology:

All people in a specific area have to participate in the work of the territorial cult. By virtue of residence, one shares with other inhabitants the same environment and the same responsibilities toward it. Immigrants into the area are expected to make an act of formal recognition of, and submission to, the local territorial cult and to observe communal duties. These are fundamental facets of the Shona ethic, an ethic which needs further investigation for what it can offer to local sustainability (Matowanyika 1991).

Regulated Resource Exploitation

Educational programs on biodiversity conservation have a vast array of indigenous ideas on which to draw. Proscriptions on digging up plants and killing wild game among many Maasai groups are based on the idea that they are gifts of a creator-god that must be respected. The idea that the welfare of an individual lineage depends on its members maintaining a relation of respect towards a particular species of animal (refraining from killing and eating; turning away or avoiding a site where such an animal has died or been killed) is another widespread phenomenon. Even in areas where the actual practice has broken down, its affirmation of the ecological truth that human welfare depends on plant and animal welfare is worth noting and highlighting.

The domain of what Northern academia labels "magic" offers similar sources of ideas for the elaboration of biodiversity conservation educational programs. Among Zaire's Pagibeti hunter/farmers, for example, certain techniques believed to be successful in dramatically increasing forest kills, particularly one called pomoli, are feared because of their lethal effects on the user's community. The use of this technique is thought to guarantee an increase in game kills for the individual hunter employing it, but at the cost of provoking a corresponding increase in deaths among the human hunter's kin. Pomoli can serve in biodiversity conservation programs as a valuable metaphor for the long-range destructiveness that resource-exploitation techniques may have to human life, even though they may be dramatically successful in the short run.

Supporting Indigenous Conservation Initiatives

African government agencies that pioneer attempts to provide legal support for locally managed sanctuary or natural areas based on indigenous ideology (for example, Ghana's Environmental Protection Council) should be assisted in their efforts. Non-African conservationists' support for such efforts should include respect for priorities that may not seem consistent with international conservation priorities. Specifically, African perspectives on the need to utilize as well as conserve existing resources need to be addressed before new biodiversity conservation initiatives are launched.

CHAPTER FIVE

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION SYSTEMS

The Issue

Various methods are currently being used to slow the loss of biodiversity in Africa, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Biodiversity conservation planners need to understand these existing methods, as well as several new approaches for extending biodiversity conservation from protected areas alone to land and water inside and outside protected areas. These new approaches are based on:

• incorporating biodiversity management in all land-use planning and practices;
• developing innovative combinations of traditional and modern production and conservation systems, based on the needs and desires of the local communities and the requirements of governments; and
• strengthening the role of local communities and the private sector in biodiversity conservation.

Established Methods for Slowing the Loss of Biodiversity

Protected Area Systems

Traditionally, in many parts of Africa, Africans have protected biodiversity by means of cultural and religious rules. As discussed in Chapter 4, trees have been protected in sacred groves, taboos have limited the harvest of certain species of plants and animals, farmlands have been allowed to remain fallow periodically, and local plant varieties have been nurtured.

Beginning in colonial times, forest and game reserves were established to conserve flora and fauna. In 1915, for example, the colonial administration of Kenya introduced national park legislation aimed at protecting game from deterioration. By 1919, three territories in Kenya had been designated as national parks Nairobi, Tsavo, and Mt. Kenya (Khalil, in prep.).

Protected areas today serve the vital function of preserving concentrations of biodiversity and provide many additional benefits. They serve as reservoirs of wild plants and animals. Forests and woodlands in national parks and other protected areas reduce soil erosion by shielding the soil and influence climate by affecting temperatures and water cycling. Over time, sites that are free of human exploitation provide researchers and planners with referents for identifying trends in disturbed ecosystems. Finally, strict nature reserves and national parks as well as some kinds of forest reserves, buffer zones, and controlled areas are also important for education and tourism.

In many protected areas, however, biodiversity is under serious pressure. The establishment of national parks and protected areas often results in the displacement of communities from their traditional lands and hence may lead to local economic hardships and resentment. Few communities are involved in the establishment or management of neighboring protected areas. Consequently, local communities tend to have little incentive to protect the resources in protected areas, especially in times ot worsening economic or climatic conditions. Furthermore, new protected areas cannot be expected to conserve the wealth of biodiversity outside existing protected areas.

Sustainable Exploitation of Wildlife

Increasingly, efforts are being made to manage and accurately assess the size of animal populations so that sustainable harvest limits (mostly outside of protected areas) can be defined. In controlled-hunting zones adjacent to Arli and "W" National Parks of eastern Burkina Faso and in game management areas in Zambia and Zimbabwe, the government sets harvest quotas and leases parcels of land to private safari operators (Pascal Roamba, pers. comm.). In southern Africa where farmers have realized that meat, live-animal capture, and trophy values of wild animals can more than offset the losses due to wildlife depredations on farms commercial game ranching has evolved. In southern Burkina Faso, a government-owned game ranch established in and around the site of the former Nazinga Forest Reserve has demonstrated that the management of wild animals for sustainable harvest can earn a profit while conserving biodiversity (see Box 13). Unfortunately, however, many efforts at sustainable utilization of wildlife have been instituted as replacements to traditional production systems and therefore have resulted in tension between local communities and government or between local communities and private land owners.

Reforms in Modern Production Systems

Traditional African production systems such as hunting and gathering, pastoralism, subsistence agriculture, and subsistence fishing generally require and foster the maintenance of biodiversity. However, modern production systemssuch as monoculture farming with hybrid seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides are replacing traditional ones as the demands for higher levels of production for growing populations and for export have increased.

It is now widely argued that the introduction of specialized and mechanized agricultural systems, clear-cut timber harvests in natural forests, large-scale cattle ranching, and mechanized fisheries are not sustainable avenues toward economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. Even in the industrialized countries outside of Africa, increasing attention is being given to modifying food production systems for example, to control soil erosion and reduce fertilizer and pesticide inputs. In addition, new timber-harvest methods, such as low-intensity selective harvesting of trees in natural forests, may prove to be more compatible with biodiversity conservation. Such reforms, however, are only slowly being tested.

Ex Situ Conservation Techniques

Currently, two basic approaches are used in Africa to help conserve biological resources in situ (on site) and ex situ (off site). In optimal conditions, both should be considered together. There are, for example, important related roles for botanical gardens (ex situ) and the conservation of natural habitats (in situ). In general, however, ex situ techniques are not a substitute for biodiversity conservation at the ecosystem and landscape levels through maintenance of habitat.

In crisis situations, ex situ techniques may be able to help save some species or landraces from extinction. Gene banks and captive breeding are methods of last resort to rescue threatened germ plasm. In the Horn of Africa, for example, many landraces of agricultural plants as well as species of wild animals and wild plants are thought to be disappearing because of civil unrest and the consequent famines and migrations of people. In cases of civil strife or natural disasters, ex situ methods can play an important role, particularly for economically important species or varieties.

The Plant Genetic Resources Center (PGRC) in Ethiopia has demonstrated how gene banks can be established for crop genetic material and other plant species. PGRC has developed an extensive collection of crop landrace germ plasm of indigenous and introduced species, including coffee and cereals, and more limited additions of herbs, spices, and medicinal plants. The center has been designated as the coordinating institution for crop germ plasm conservation in Africa by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources. With external funding, PGRC is also promoting the use and selection of indigenous landraces of crops by smallholders.

Other ex situ techniques, such as captive breeding by zoos and other institutions, are useful for preservation of threatened larger animal species. Captive breeding and subsequent reintroductions, however, are expensive. Moreover, the long-term success of biodiversity conservation by this method is unproven, and there are few cases of successful animal reintroductions. Finally, many African nations still lack the technical expertise and financial resources for most ex situ interventions.

Innovations for Effective Biodiversity Conservation

National parks and many other kinds of protected areas serve a vital function in conserving biodiversity. With the vast majority of biodiversity existing on land and water outside protected areas, however, it is necessary for biodiversity conservation to extend beyond national parks and other protected areas. Current methods for slowing biodiversity loss will not be adequate to meet the many threats that biodiversity in Africa now faces.

Changes are necessary in approaches to both production of biological resources and their conservation. Innovative ways of conserving biodiversity through sustainable use and other alternatives must be explored for all areas that lie outside of strict protected areas. In addition, there should be a general shift from crisis management to strategic planning (see Soulé 1991 for a discussion). Biodiversity conservation in Africa should involve longer term, more comprehensive, proactive measures, rather than fragmented and uncoordinated responses to the loss of species and habitats. In addition, there should be a change in focus from conserving primarily conspicuous animals and plants to a recognition of the need to conserve all kinds and sizes of living organisms, as well as the ecosystems within which they have evolved.

Valuable ecosystems are found in all African countries. These ecosystems are important not only in local or national terms but also, in many cases, in global terms. Every African country should formulate and adopt a national policy and strategy for conserving natural resources. Fortunately, some countries already have a strategy. Biodiversity conservation must be included in National Conservation Strategies and National Environmental Action Plans (see Chapter 6), with the biodiversity conservation measures clearly and precisely stated in every project plan. Biodiversity conservation components must also be incorporated in National Development Plans and in district and local development plans.

Biodiversity Management in Land-Use Planning

Improved land-use planning at the national level should be undertaken as an important step in the biodiversity conservation process. People need to use natural resources, so ways must be found to use those resources in the least destructive manner.

Table 7 categorizes various kinds of land uses according to the magnitude of their impact on biodiversity. The degree of destructiveness of some forms of land use is predictable. Most forms, however, are highly variable in their impact, depending on the biome or ecosystem type and details of uses and management. While some activities are inherently more destructive to biodiversity than others, most production activities could be improved in terms of meeting human needs as well as contributing to biodiversity conservation.

One model of a land-use plan might be to surround protected areas with concentric or adjacent zones of increasing exploitation and therefore lesser degrees of biodiversity protection. For example, a central national park or core non-use area could be surrounded by conservation areas (or corridors or buffer zones) and abutted by a traditional hunter/gatherer zone or a pastoral zone. In turn, these could be surrounded by game ranches, forest reserves, agroforests, and traditional agriculture. Still further out from the core could be zones of specialized mechanized agriculture, urban areas, and manufacturing industries. Some uses or production systems could overlap several zones, such as traditional pastoralism overlying a traditional hunter/gatherer zone, a controlled hunting zone, and a game ranching zone. Every African country has its own unique biodiversity resources, and the full range of biomes in a country must be considered in a land-use plan. Within each biome, there may be several major types of ecosystems.

In a given country, the process of incorporating biodiversity conservation in land-use planning should begin with the selection of a landscape containing one or more ecosystems. Then, within the selected landscape, zones can be planned according to their biodiversity value and sensitivity to biodiversity loss. Land uses should be varied, including strict protection, various forms of sustainable use, and carefully selected sites for intensive exploitation.

Such land-use zoning could result in a complex system of production activities arranged around a core area of less-intensive exploitation. Within a proposed network of production systems employing mixed technologies, zones should be clearly defined specifying where the priority is to preserve biodiversity and where production is the priority. Basic biodiversity information, land-use planning, participation by local communities, and skillful decision makers are needed for deciding the best combination of land uses and conservation methods. Local traditions and conditions are important factors in the land-use planning process, and local people must be involved at every step, from planning to implementation.

Policies must be set in place to decentralize the management of resources to the local communities. A move in this direction already has begun: Namibia currently is using the landscape approach and community-based management techniques for planning biodiversity conservation (Namibia 1992). The same has been recommended in several projects planned for Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, where the approach is referred to as "gestion des terroirs" land management (Faure 1992). (For further information on protected landscapes, policy making, and planning see Lucas 1992).

Recommending one plan for all landscapes is inappropriate, of course, because the details will vary according to pockets of endemism, existing traditional communities, centers of urbanization, and other variables such as mineral deposits. Including all kinds of uses and production systems in a given landscape is also not necessary. The best mix depends on the characteristics of each landscape. In general, modern technology systems for intensive production should be zoned for already modified lands, rather than on sites still containing high natural biodiversity. Finally, community participation and careful ecological and economic planning can result in a network of production systems that will be both sustainable and sensitive to biodiversity in the long term.

Innovative Combinations of Traditional and Modern Systems

To control the rate of biodiversity loss and to increase production, foreign conservation technologies must be adapted to the African context to complement traditional technologies. Neither traditional production methods nor modern production methods alone can do the job. These new combinations of traditional and modern methods can be sensitive to biodiversity conservation while providing adequate levels of sustainable production. Once again, however, this approach can succeed only with local participation. Local people must have a voice in, and be part of, the process of developing and implementing such innovative systems. They must also be the principal beneficiaries.

Examples of mixed systems, employing combinations of traditional and foreign technologies and values, are described below. Biodiversity conservation can, to varying degrees, be added to the spectrum of production activities. The systems discussed below are among the easiest for attaining effective biodiversity conservation.

As starting points for sustainable development and for biodiversity conservation, the following production systems and uses can be used to assemble various combinations of traditional and modern technologies to form improved production systems. The best combination and spatial distribution of production systems for satisfying all human needs for the longest time is also likely to be the one that tends to conserve biodiversity in the long term.

Limiited-Access Strict Nature Reserves

In most cases, a limited-access, strict nature reserve is appropriate at the core of the ecosystem being conserved. The use of such an area might be limited to research (e.g. a species-rich site within a national park) and to religious or aesthetic purposes (such as with sacred groves), thereby continuing the core area's accessibility to both modern and traditional uses. Even these uses, however, should be recognized as imposing a light level of exploitation; no use is without impact and cost. Tourism probably should be prohibited, or at least very strictly limited and regulated in the core area. Zones of more intensive use (for example, tourism, hunting and gathering, or even game ranching) could surround the limited-access strict nature reserve.

National Parks

The single most widely accepted form of use in national parks is tourism, the advantages and disadvantages of which have been reviewed (e.g. Boo 1990a, b and IRG 1992). Tourist viewing of wild animals, tropical forests, mountain tops, and coral reefs generates substantial foreign exchange and employs thousands of people. These areas also contribute to the maintenance of environmental processes (for example, climate and the hydrological cycle), aesthetics, and national pride.

Additional forms of legal production from national parks, such as the harvest of animal and plant products, occur in some countries. In Malawi, for example, community relations with National Park staff dramatically improved when the community was allowed access to the park to sustainably harvest such highly valued commodities as caterpillars, thatch and honey. In South Africa's Kruger National Park, ungulates are harvested as part of the park authority's management of animal populations, and the meat is sold. Kruger, however, is the exception rather than the rule. Cropping at other sites usually takes place outside national parks in buffer zones and other areas that are designated for sustainable exploitation.

In some parks and reserves, live capture of mammals and birds is done for the purposes of restocking other protected areas or for sale to zoos and the pet trade. In the national parks of virtually every African country, considerable illegal and unrecorded harvesting of mammals, fishes, and plants occurs by local communities and by poachers from nearby countries. The main disadvantage of national parks, as well as all the other protected categories described by IUCN-The World Conservation Union (in, for example, IUCN 1987), is that the few permissible activities provide only minimal revenue to nearby communities even when special efforts are made to increase those benefits.

Forest Reserves

The value of forest reserves for biodiversity conservation varies. In some countries, such as Cameroon and Tanzania, many of the reserves still support indigenous vegetation. By contrast, in Togo many of the forest reserves are managed by the government for commercial exploitation, and the original vegetation has been replaced with plantations of indigenous and exotic species such as teak, Terminalia, Anacardium, Kaya senegalensis, Gmelina arborea, at least three species of Eucalyptus, coffee, cocoa, and cotton (Tanghanwaye and Frame 1991).

In many African countries, forest reserves have been declassified because the land no longer contains any forest. Wild animals are protected in only a few of Togo's forest reserves, and some forest reserves contain villages and schools. Nevertheless, forest reserves often offer creative opportunities. In Ghana, for example, wild animal conservation could be introduced into the forest reserves.

Traditional-Use Conservation Areas

These areas include lands used traditionally for hunting or gathering, for pastoralism and agropastoralism, or for religious, sacred, and cultural purposes. These types of traditional production systems and uses could, in some cases, be allowed to overlap adjacent production zones. For example, seasonal movements of people and domestic livestock could be permitted into an adjacent game ranch 77 or controlled-hunting area. Such sites, where low-intensity harvest by local residents is permitted, are sometimes called "extractive reserves."

Areas designated for traditional-use management should have built-in flexibility with regard to production methods, because traditional practices change in time. Sometimes relatively simple interventions can bring desirable improvements, such as occurred when the minor technical input of introducing mango trees to the Tana River area in Kenya produced the extra cash income that relieved a need to clear more land for cultivation. Simply stopping dynamite fishing and boat anchoring on coral reefs may make local exploitation more sustainable. Although some traditional-use conservation areas are limited in size, they can be of fundamental importance to the well-being of some African communities.

Hunting and gathering are important activities in biomes ranging from rainforests to the semiarid woodlands to the coastal-marine zone. Wildland products include bushmeat and other animal foods (birds, fish, and invertebrates), firewood, construction materials (poles, thatch, fibers), plant foods (vegetables, fruits, seeds), medicinal plants, honey, and animal products other than meat (Woodford 1990). In the dry lowlands of Ethiopia, gums and resins are gathered from Acacia, Commiphora, and Boswellia trees; over three million tons were harvested commercially in 1988-89, with the value exceeding US$7 million and hundreds of people employed. Honey and beeswax are produced in Ethiopia at annual rates of 3,300 and 3,500 tons each, respectively, with a combined value of about US$70 million per year (Ethiopia 1992). Burkina Faso's karité fruit (Vitellaria paradoxa) is harvested and exported for its oil. In Kenya, marine mollusk shells are an important product for sale to tourists.

In several countries in Southern Africa, including Namibia, Zambia (ADMADE Program), and Zimbabwe (CAMPFIRE Program), a type of conservation activity commonly referred to as "Community Based Conservation" reinforces local communities' rights and capabilities to realize financial and other benefits from the sustainable management of natural resources on their land. These benefits may be the result of profits from safari hunting, tourism or the sale of animal products from culling or cropping. In each case a large percentage or all of the profits from these enterprises are returned to the community, offering direct incentives to continue to manage the resources sustainably Pure pastoralism is disappearing in Africa, as pastoralists become sedentary and more dependent on supplementary foods. Agropastoralism may be desirable in some areas to increase-production by adding agricultural foods to the diets of pastoralists and their livestock. In Somalia, agropastoralists grow grain for food, but they also use the same plants as fodder for their livestock. Agropastoralism is now much debated in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area of Tanzania, as families of Maasai pastoralists currently are illegally growing maize and vegetables inside the conservation area and are asking also to be allowed to grow exotic fruit trees.

Religious, sacred, and cultural uses of traditional lands are important but are difficult to measure in economic terms. In West Africa, sacred groves (see Chapter 4) represent a significant incentive for community participation in biodiversity conservation and a link with local heritage. The protection of sacred groves or other culturally protected areas should be encouraged, and these areas should be given official status.

Controlled-Hunting

Areas Most African countries have designated certain zones for hunting in which licensed "safari" hunting operators exploit the zones for profit. The operators usually are required to control poaching, develop water points, construct roads and tourist facilities, and manage fire in the zones. Numerous controlled-hunting areas are found in eastern Burkina Faso, adjacent to Arli and "W" National Parks, and throughout southern Africa. Generally, controlled-hunting areas do not permit local residents to have legal access to the diverse biological resources, although a few jobs are created. More attention should be devoted to increasing the access to these areas for local communities. If well managed, such areas can serve as reservoirs to replenish animal populations in heavily exploited surrounding areas.

Game Ranches

Game ranching is especially well developed and widespread in southern Africa, where it has become a lucrative supplement to modern cattle ranching and farming. A variation of game ranching is being developed in West Africa, in which local communities will become the owners and principal beneficiaries. Game ranches are expected to earn their revenue mainly from sport hunting, tourism, cropping for meat, and live capture of animals for restocking other protected areas (WAGREP 1992). Local residents, however, often retain access to the traditional natural products of the site, such as honey, small animals to eat, plants for food and medicine, firewood, and building materials.

The development of local fisheries can be another important benefit to communities. At Burkina Faso's Nazinga Game Ranch, nearby residents responded enthusiastically to the fishing opportunities created when small dams were constructed to provide permanent water holes. Six different fishing methods are used at Nazinga, according to the gender of the fisher and the season (Ouédraogo 1988). Game ranches can restore biodiversity to degraded areas. They can also help to satisfy the demand for bushmeat, an important part of the diet in both rural communities and cities, particularly in West Africa (Kalivesse 1991). Nonmeat products such as eggs, feathers, hides, skins, horns, heads, and safari-hunting trophies are other products making game ranches attractive in many areas.

Live-animal capture is another lucrative form of exploitation of wildlife, particularly in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. During the 1980s, Ethiopia annually exported about 9,000 primates, worth about US$550,000. Ethiopia has some 190 civet farmers, who raise approximately 3,000 captive civets from which they annually obtain roughly US$1 million worth of anal-gland musk for the perfume industry (Woodford 1990). Such income-generating activities can be carried out sustainably on game ranches or game farms, with positive implications for the conservation of biodiversity.

Small-Scale

Agriculture and Agroforestry A mix of small-scale agriculture and forestry can enable local communities to be self-sufficient in food and construction materials. Traditional small-scale agriculture is done in many different ways, most of which are ecologically sound as long as the human population density does not rise above a certain level (see Box 14). The profitability of small-scale farming can also be raised by improving market roads so that a portion of the crops can be sold. Agroforestry is being developed in most sub-Saharan 80 African countries, with the assistance of the U.S. Peace Corps, CARE, and many other nongovernmental organizations. Greater use should be made of indigenous species in these schemes.

Commercial Biological Resource Production

Commercial production and exploitation systems, such as monoculture farming, logging, cattle ranching, and mechanized fisheries, are demanded by governments and some local communities as a means of providing jobs and cash income, but often result in decreased biodiversity. For example, commercial timber harvests have destroyed natural rainforests in Côte d'Ivoire and other West and central African countries, where biodiversity conservation was compromised to generate export earnings (ITF 1985). Selective harvesting of trees according to species and size and using appropriate methods (see, for example, Hendrison 1990) would have better contributed to both economic development and biodiversity conservation.

In recent years, commercial production techniques for some systems have improved, rendering them less destructive to biodiversity. For example, selective harvesting of trees, changes in plowing techniques, less destructive ranching of domestic livestock, less wasteful fishing methods, and the development of fish, mollusk, and crustacean farming all can help biodiversity conservation and make economic development more sustainable.

Intensifying production in sites that have relatively low importance for biodiversity conservation, or in which the land is already degraded, may help to relieve the pressure on other sites that still retain high levels of biodiversity. The problems are not all technical, however, and fundamental changes in government policies also are needed (see Chapter 6; see also Winterbottom 1990).

Commercial Non-biological Resource Production

Commercial production and exploitation systems include mining, petroleum extraction, and manufacturing industriesall of which tend to be destructive to biodiversity. The transfer of modern technologies from developed countries could aid in making these systems safer for biodiversity. Within the framework of a better-zoned landscape, these commercial systems could be made more compatible with biodiversity conservation.

Urban Centers and National Infrastructure

Human population centers and roads, railroads, airports, power-generating stations, dams, electric transmission lines, harbors, military bases, and other modern establishments are found in every nation on every continent, but their effects often can be catastrophic for biodiversity. National policies and land-use planning that address the necessity of biodiversity conservation can contribute immensely by restricting destructive forms of development in certain areas.

The Role of the Private Sector and Local Participation

Financing for the production systems described above need not depend on donor organizations, once demonstration projects have been established. Indeed, it is unrealistic to expect donor funds to accomplish all that must be done. Strong private sector involvement is important to sustain programs, as well as to initiate new ones. Where government policies permit private ownership of land and biological resources, the private sector can invest in and efficiently operate biodiversity conservation projects.

Money for private investment is available, in even the poorest African countries. In several West African nations, for example, wealthy local businessmen have already expressed interest in investment once laws and policies have been changed to make private game ranching possible. Some development activities will require financial assistance in the form of credit, as well as changes in land tenure laws. Tax breaks and vouchers could provide incentives for corporations to locate in designated zones and to use methods less harmful to biodiversity conservation. Most ventures are likely to require technical assistance to ensure that ecological sustainability and biodiversity conservation are fully addressed.

Indigenous scholars have much biodiversity information that should be used. Indigenous technology should be encouraged and its use compensated. Using indigenous information, pilot programs should be initiated to enhance the availability of economically valuable and useful species and to reduce pressures on natural systems.

Human well-being should not be sacrificed in the decision-making process. People need alternatives if they are deprived of the natural resources from which they formerly earned their livelihood. Some people will readily accept these alternatives, while others may not. Informed, open participation in the design of conservation strategies is therefore an essential component of this approach. Biodiversity conservation and use can enable the development of local communities and their nations. If development is in harmony with nature, it will tend to be more sustainable. (See Box 15)

CHAPTER SIX

THE POLICY ENVIRONMENT

The Issue

Biodiversity is affected by a wide array of policies in many sectors. The ways that policies affect biodiversity are also varied, ranging from indirect creation of incentives for the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, to direct requirements that management of biological resources be improved. Although many countries have strong laws related to conservation within protected areas, these laws often are not enforced. As a result, the most significant impact of the policy environment on biodiversity tends to result from perverse or unintended effects of policies in other sectors, which directly or indirectly have adverse consequences for the conservation of biodiversity.

These unintentional effects represent more or less hidden costs of policies intended, for example, to boost agricultural production or stimulate economic development. These policies need to be identified and their implications fully analyzed, so that appropriate adjustments or reforms can be instituted.

Finally, a set of policies specifically addressing biodiversity conservation is still needed in most countries. Thus far, few countries have adopted comprehensive policies on biodiversity. Adopting such laws could enable biodiversity issues to be brought to the attention of decision makers more clearly and systematically than is possible at present. Within national governments, different sectors and ministries should share their concerns for biodiversity. In addition, each country should establish or designate a single national institution to take the lead role in planning, coordinating, and monitoring the conservation of biodiversity.

International Policies with Impacts on Biodiversity

Intellectual and Genetic Property Rights

The absence of fair and widely accepted international standards of protection for intellectual, genetic, and cultural property raises equity issues and may also discourage some forms of biodiversity conservation, research, and development. Developing countries have much to gain from effective policies providing economic incentives for in situ conservation through developing local capacity to survey and screen resources for potential use. International seed banks, private companies, and research institutes collect samples of germ plasm freely from developing countries. The products that are marketed as a result of research and development using such material, however, are subsequently held to be protected by the collecting nation's copyright, with little if any benefit returning to the countries from which the samples originated (Juma 1989).

Such equity issues have been difficult to resolve. For example, traditional farmers who maintain landraces and cultivars with commercial value on the international market should reap some economic benefit from their use. But systems to capture a share of the value added and return it to traditional farmers have not been adequately demonstrated up to now. Since much of the value added arises from development by international research laboratories or private sector firms, and is subsequently realized through sales on global markets, establishing fair compensation to all parties is not a simple task.

International seed research bodies have strongly opposed restrictions on access to germ plasm. For example, in the late 1970s the government of Ethiopia was warned that it risked being cut off from international seed research activities if it maintained an embargo on the export of indigenous coffee germ plasm (Juma 1989). To some extent, this has become another "North-South" issue, with industrialized countries tending to support free access to the genetic material found in nature, while developing countries argue that control over local biological resources is an issue of national sovereignty. Industrialized countries also hold that once patented or copyrighted, the distribution of genetic material should be subject to legally enforceable contractual arrangements, while developing countries tend to see this as a restriction of technology transfer and therefore an impediment to development.

If developing countries maintain different levels of protection or control over indigenous germ plasm, international firms will probably deal primarily with those from which the best terms are available (except in cases where unique material is available exclusively from one source). In this context, the best terms may not always be the cheapest financially: for many international firms, an unstable policy environment may represent a more significant disincentive than a consistently applied system of fees or royalties.

Shifting control from the international marketplace into the hands of national governments does not necessarily address the issue of equity for the traditional farmers or indigenous peoples upon whom much of the supply of germ plasm depends. A parallel exists in the case of revenues from logging or tourism, which traditionally have been captured by national governments with little benefit accruing to the local communities directly affected by the activity in question. Recent trends in conservation are emphasizing the need to ensure a more fair distribution of economic rents, partly on equity grounds but also to provide stronger economic incentives to local populations to help conserve the resource base that generates this revenue (McNeely 1988). A similar approach might be indicated in the case of biodiversity royalties.

Bridging this gap to the satisfaction of all parties would bring obvious benefits, although it will not be easy to achieve. A widely-cited case in Costa Rica offers a precedent: a U.S. pharmaceutical firm, Merck, has established an arrangement with the Costa Rican research institute Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), by which the latter receives compensation for samples of plant material sent to the United States for testing. The agreement stipulates that royalties will also be paid against the proceeds from eventual commercial sales, which will help provide long-term financing for INBio to continue its research program in the Costa Rican forest.

Similar ventures might be explored in Africa, although the situations are unlikely to be as clear-cut and simple to organize. One important difference is that most of the Costa Rican samples will be collected from closed-canopy moist-forest sites; thus, equity for local farmers has not been a major issue in that situation. In contrast, most of the cases of genetic property rights that have been raised in Africa involve germ plasm from domesticated crops such as coffee, thereby raising the issue of local rights to participate in decision making as well as rights to share in revenues from seed improvement.

An international convention on biodiversity was signed by 157 nations during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. This treaty explicitly recognizes genetic and intellectual property rights, and its language stresses equity and national sovereignty issues with regard to ownership of and compensation for biological resources. From the point of view of many of the conference participants, the language of the treaty was softened so as not to jeopardize its acceptance, but the refusal of the United States to sign even the modified convention highlights the fact that biotechnology has become a significant North-South issue.

Economic Policies, Instruments, and Trends

The international trade system is an important indirect source of pressure on African biodiversity. A mix of subsidies (the Lomé Convention, industrialized country agricultural subsidies), trade agreements (most favored nation status, the General agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATTI]; Preferential Trade Agreement [PTAJ]; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD], customs and currency unions (Southern Africa Customs Union Agreement [SACUAI, Communauté Financiére Africaine [CFA], and tariff as well as non-tariff barriers exert significant influences on the structure of imports and exports, both regionally and globally.

The terms of international trade have generally been very unfavorable to African countries, resulting in depressed prices for primary commodities, stagnant exports of manufactured goods, persistent trade deficits, and extremely high levels of external debt. Multilateral development banks and some bilateral donors have pressed for policy changes, with mixed results. Some reforms have taken place, but documentation of negative impacts on the poorest levels of society is increasing. In addition, some analysts believe that the stabilization and structural adjustment programs initiated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have had clearly harmful environmental effects (see Box 16; Reed 1992). Biodiversity has been affected: in some countries, the response to economic crisis has been expansion of production of export monocultures especially coffee, tea, and cocoa at the expense of 87 more diversified traditional systems or through clearing of forested land. Some countries in West and central Africa have expanded commercial logging for the same reasons.

Global Support for Conservation

The international community influences the establishment and management of protected areas and provides financing for many conservation activities. This international support influences national policies toward biodiversity, as well as funding levels, training, and the types of activities that will or will not be implemented. For example, there has been an upsurge in interest in the development of protected-area buffer zones in recent years, due to a growing belief among donors and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that, for equity and other reasons, total human exclusion from the protected-area system is neither feasible nor desirable. This approach is now being implemented through new land-use policies and multiple-use projects in several countries, as host country governments are being persuaded to modify their earlier conservation strategies. (As noted elsewhere in this report, however, some countries have been reluctant to adopt this approach or have lacked the legal/administrative framework to do so.)

International policies on biodiversity conservation can significantly influence, and sometimes even prevail over national policies, for example through trade or other sanctions. The United States has used GATT, for example, as a tool to pressure developing countries to comply with international agreements protecting intellectual property rights (Clark and Juma 1991). These agreements are often viewed within developing countries as favoring the interests of corporations based in industrialized countries, at the expense of technology transfer to developing countries.

On the other hand, in 1992 GATT ruled against a U.S. regulation that limited the import of tuna caught in nets that can kill dolphins. The Mexic