Poaching of iconic species, human-wildlife conflicts and extinction rates are at their peak in the area, but there is a dearth of information regarding wildlife conservation. However, achieving a sustainable tourism industry requires adequate information about wildlife conservation, exploitation, and nature-based tourism.
Several studies have been conducted regarding biodiversity management, but most of them have focused less on enhancing nature-based tourism.
The significant findings revealed that wildlife depletion, including rare species, is primarily attributed to trophy hunting, poverty-driven poaching and partial ratification of international and regional biodiversity protocols duplicated by climate change and the erection of wildlife corridors that restrict animal seasonal migration, thereby causing deaths by impairing fauna survival capacities. Consequently, the study proffers a framework with multi-layered interventions to enhance transboundary wildlife management from community, national, and regional levels through nature-based tourism characterised by anti-poaching and anti-trophy hunting. The framework considers various regional and international sustainable development blueprints to encourage harmonised wildlife conservation at the regional level.
The framework developed will serve as a comprehensive tool to assist communities, policymakers, law enforcers, national park agencies, governments and NGOs in the effective planning, strategy implementation and management of wildlife tourism with minimum consumption. By providing a structured approach, the framework will enable these stakeholders to collaborate efficiently and make informed decisions that prioritise the long-term conservation of wildlife. It aims to prevent rapid population decline through sustainable management practices, ensuring that both biodiversity and local economies can thrive while safeguarding future generations of wildlife.
Wildlife is an essential component of ecosystem balance, although it is under threat owing to improper fauna conservation and management duplicated by climate change.
A study conducted in 2000 indicated that at a global level, a proportion of 24% of mammals was at risk of extinction due to human-induced overexploitation.
This shows that fauna species depletion is an old phenomenon at a global level that demands urgent attention to reduce and manage gradual losses of wildlife resources. Currently, Amur Leopard, Rhino, Orangutan, Gorilla, Saola, Vaquita, Sunda Tiger, Yangtze Finless Porpoise, Turtle and Elephant are the ten topmost wildlife species vulnerable to a massive decline in population across the globe.
Owing to the multiplicity of wildlife losses attributed to various multi-layered challenges which negatively impact fauna survival and existence, there is a need to adopt sustainable tourism, particularly for resource protection and conservation.
Despite the Southeast Asian countries being signatories of the universal wildlife trade pact regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of wild fauna and flora which advocates for sustainable wildlife trade, unsustainable trade of millions of wildlife is interminable in the region.
The situation insists on the need to embrace multifaceted approaches all aimed at enhancing sustainable wildlife conservation through adopting economically and ecologically viable interventions. In Southeast Asia, commercial and subsistence hunting constitutes the largest proportion of vertebrate species exploitation over other contributing factors such as human-induced habitat modifications, thereby leading to the intense decline of wildlife populations.
Adopting anti-exploitation reliance on fauna resources can be the most feasible and effective initiative that allows generating income from wildlife with minimum exploitation, translating to sustainable wildlife management.
Populations of vertebrate species in Africa are estimated to have declined by 39 percent since 1970 yet the region hosts 9 of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots defined as zones including more than 1500 endemic plant species which have lost at least 70 percent of their primary native vegetation (Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2022). Degradation of plant species and fauna is an interrelated component; hence, vegetal loss aggravates wildlife population reduction due to habitat and pasture transformation and decline. In West Africa, the Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is a common wildlife-threatening battle largely attributed to poaching and insufficient participation of communities in fauna conservation interventions, which hampers the PONASI protected area’s sustainable management.
This is a clear indication that interventions aimed to conserve wildlife species are present but their effectiveness is limited hence, there is a need to upscale inclusive participation to enhance sustainable fauna conservation and management. Despite the W Regional Park and WAP complex conservation, a transboundary wildlife management scheme, fauna depletion remains an escalating challenge in W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) parks in West Africa due to violent extremist organisations, non-state actors and rebel groups .
The scenario of explicit wildlife losses and extinction due to illegal, legal, human-wildlife conflicts driven by weak fauna conservation governance duplicated by climate change is more visible in Southern Africa .
However, nature-based tourism contributes to gross domestic product with plausible proportions in the Southern African Developing Community among other economic activities. Improving the tourism industry can pave the way to generate income at flaunting rates for rapid economic development. Cordon fences in Southern Africa serve to separate animals for conservation and protection against zoonotic diseases and this results in a proportion ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of wild animal deaths due to restricted seasonal migrations for accessing preferred pastures and water sources.
Despite the progress in wildlife population management over the years, countries in Southern Africa still face challenges in ensuring sustainable conservation initiatives as a result of massive participation in poaching economies and militarised conservation practices [5]. While efforts to protect wildlife are present, it is essential to incorporate these initiatives in a manner that recognizes the need to promote wildlife health and ensure optimal survival conditions. This requires a strategic approach that considers spatial–temporal scales to enhance the biological mechanisms necessary for wildlife resilience and long-term ecosystem stability through initiating non-consumptive wildlife tourism.
Most biodiversity-related studies focus on aggravating soil and vegetation protection and management whilst neglecting wildlife conservation which is under threat owed to various forces, particularly in Africa.
Inevitably, most of the Southern African countries are not excluded from experiencing wildlife resource depletion due to an interplay of socio-economic and political challenges, which in turn affect sustainable fauna protection and conservation.
Therefore, it is against this background that the study aims to develop a framework that various stakeholders can adopt to upscale the conservation and management of wildlife through nature-based tourism. It is both timely and highly valuable to researchers, communities, policymakers and practitioners to promote nature-based tourism because it is a form of tourism that features nature through encompassing all forms of outdoor natural setting, the primary attraction, particularly where the benefits are revelled whilst the area and natural resources remain undisturbed or left in a pristine state.
A Guest Editorial