Living off 'biodiversity': whose land, whose resources and where?

摘要

I applaud Brian Walker's article and the editor for using it as the basis for a policy forum. By extending the multi-species or multi-use concepts current in southern Africa to encompass 'biodiversity' Walker brings into sharper focus the many local, regional and global research and policy issues of conserving biodiversity by using it. He also raises the key issue of scale and the dubious viability of small, often spatially isolated, enterprises based on wildlife use. It is on the issue of scale that I wish to extend the debate by suggesting that biodiversity, as a primary land use, could advantageously cover 40 per cent, or more, of the land area of southern Africa. Under such a scenario the question of 'whose land, whose resources and where?' becomes paramount.