[Anonymous]

Parks ‘failing Africa’s wildlife’
National
parks in Africa, originally set up to conserve endangered species, are
failing to protect wildlife within their boundaries, a study
claims.Researchers say a decline in the number of large mammals, such
as antelopes, was a result of increased pressures on the reserves’
ecology.They said the parks faced an uncertain future as a greater
number of people increased the demand for resources.

The study
has been published in the African Journal of Ecology.”For years,
wildlife managers and biologists in Africa have known that large
mammals were disappearing outside reserves,” ecologists Tim Caro and
Paul Scholte wrote.”But now a raft of studies are showing that we have
moved beyond this to the next step – we are losing species from many of
Africa’s national parks.”What the new data show is even relatively
well-organised protected areas cannot be relied on as long-lasting
conservation tools,” they added.

Parks under siege
The pair,
from the University of California, Davis, US, and Leiden University,
Netherlands, examined a number of studies tracking the decline of
antelopes.The main cause behind the animals’ decline was human
activity, they concluded: “Many parks are subject to the ravaging
impact of illegal hunters.”Bushmeat hunting is often the most common
factor pressing upon antelope populations. In the old days, this was
for local consumption, now it includes tables in far-off cities that,
incredibly, extend to London and Paris.”Another factor was marked
increases in human populations and immigration, resulting in
communities moving into reserves to farm.Around smaller reserves, the
increase in farming shut off migration corridors used by the animals,
the researchers added.They warned that there was “no easy solution” to
halt the decline in antelope numbers.”The old idea of setting aside
large tracts of land in remote areas far from human populations is
still a viable option in some parts of the continent.”But it is a
conservation approach increasingly outmoded by land-use change,
demographics and policy reform,” they wrote.”We may have to get used to
[a] relaxation in Africa’s network of famous reserves, leaving a
continent containing isolated pockets of large mammal diversity living
at low population sizes – just like Europe.” 

[Author]

September 4, 2007 at 11:31 AM