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10 August 2007 Kiwis and Tigers: Lessons in Conservation by Roger Kerr One of the worst of many mistakes made by European colonists in New Zealand was the introduction in 1885 of stoats. The idea was to control the soaring population of rabbits and hares introduced some 50 years earlier. But today stoats kill, amongst many other things, 40 North Island brown kiwi chicks on average every day. That's 15,000 per year and 60% of the total of North Island brown kiwi born. Another 35% of the chicks are killed by ferrets and other introduced predators. It's timely, in conservation week, to reflect on this and other major environmental blunders made by our forebears, both European and Maori, in the hope that we've learned something along the way. Such mistakes were unwitting, of course, and made at a time when people were struggling to make a living from an often harsh and unyielding environment. And there were great successes too; less than 10 years after introducing the stoat our forebears had the foresight to set aside the first of our national parks, Tongariro. This followed the gifting of the volcanic peaks in that region to the government of the day by Te Heuheu Tukino IV, paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa, to be held in trust for the people of New Zealand for all time. The Department of Conservation is to be congratulated for its wide-ranging efforts to conserve our natural heritage. Much has been achieved. But the task is massive and many of endangered species still hover on the brink of extinction. And there are many other serious environmental problems in New Zealand, like poor water quality, pollution of streams and lakes, and the use of hazardous substances like pesticides. Many of these come down to mismanagement, under-investment and lack of clear, enforceable, property rights. As DOC pursues its multiple, sometimes conflicting, roles – as manager of our publicly owned conservation estate, advocate for conservation of private property, operator of facilities like tracks and huts, and issuer of recreational and tourism-related concessions – we should be asking if there are other, better ways of caring for vulnerable land, resources and species. Some years ago conservationist Guy Salmon suggested that our national parks could be partially privatised. Many of the activities that people enjoy in these parks are provided by the private sector but access to them is subsidised by all taxpayers. Subject to clear rules and contracts, there is no reason why private organisations, environmental groups and iwi could not have a greater role in managing conservation assets. And government management is by no means the only way to save threatened plants and animals. Writing in the New York Times last year, Indian economist Barun Mitra made a powerful argument for an alternative approach to preserving endangered species, in this case the tiger. He argued that the best way to keep tigers from becoming extinct is to allow them, in effect, to pay for their own survival. Millions of dollars have been spent internationally in the last 30 years on trying to prohibit trade in the tiger, whose body parts are prized for their use in traditional Chinese medicines. But despite all the effort, the tiger is as close to extinction as ever, and prohibition has, if anything, benefited the poachers and smugglers of tigers and tiger parts. Mitra argues that if you think of tigers as animals like sheep, deer and cattle, you can see that demand provides opportunity, rather than posing a threat. He points out that while the world's several billion sheep, goats and cattle are among the most exploited of animals, they are in no danger of dying out. Like these animals, the tiger breeds easily in captivity, and a single farmed tiger is estimated to fetch $40,000. And when Mitra poses the question: “Which country is thinking about applying free-market principles to wildlife preservation and, in the process, improving the survival chances of a long endangered species while giving its economy a boost?”, the answer is (communist) China. Wildlife farming has the potential to eliminate the incentive for poaching, thus protecting those left in the wild, while at the same time restoring the rights of local villagers to earn legitimate revenue. In Venezuela, a similar approach is underway. Hunters of the endangered Caiman crocodile have turned to crocodile ‘ranching', a strategy that is pleasing conservationists and meeting the needs of indigenous Indians who have long relied on the eggs as a protein source. The idea of allowing domestication of kiwi and other endangered New Zealand species, though likely less hazardous than tiger and crocodile ranching, may still sound a little far-fetched. But there are surely lessons to be learned, both from our own successes and mistakes, and those of other countries. Applying some lateral thinking and free-market principles could go some way towards meeting the challenges of conserving our natural heritage. Roger Kerr is the executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable. Roger Kerr is the executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable. |