Page 3 - Professorial Lecture - Professor Mapaure

ABSTRACT

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Every year the World celebrates the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May.
The Theme for 2017 is ‘Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism’. The United Nations declared
2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development. Given that the United
Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020) is about to end, it is imperative to highlight
the importance of sustainably managing biodiversity for the long-term benefit and survival
of humanity on planet Earth. This Professorial Essay highlights the nexus between
biodiversity conservation and wildlife-based tourism by analysing selected important
ecological considerations required to maintain a balance between the two objectives in
savanna ecosystems. Let us avoid ‘biting the hand that feeds us’ by making sure that we
promote a balance between biodiversity conservation and wildlife-based tourism
objectives.

The essay highlights the importance of continuously monitoring and regulating human and
vehicle densities in protected areas. This calls for proper scientific determination and
implementation of sustainable densities of humans and vehicles at any given space and
time in protected areas. There is also a need to strictly regulate vehicle sizes and/or people
(or even ban them) in ecologically-sensitive areas in order to protect biodiversity. Road
infrastructure should be planned in a way that minimizes unacceptable habitat
fragmentation while enhancing optimal tourist experience. Provision of dry season water
for animals by constructing artificial water holes also requires careful attention because it
creates undue pressure on the environment if not carefully managed. There is therefore a
need to establish systems of water hole opening and closure (sustainable temporal and
spatial regimes) to promote recovery of rangeland health and integrity, where necessary.
This must be informed by empirical research where each water point can be viewed as
unique because some research has shown that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is not always
effective - if anything, it can be detrimental. Considerations of the fire-herbivore-
vegetation interactions are also very important in biodiversity and tourism management in
savanna ecosystems. There is need to re-visit most of our fire management policies to make
sure that they allow historical fire regimes to occur in savanna ecosystems. Approaches,
which advocate for complete fire exclusion from such ecosystems, can be very disastrous
– it is a hazard that we cannot afford to ignore. Densities of large herbivores should be
carefully monitored and appropriate interventions taken (to increase or reduce numbers)
where they may be ecologically and/or economically unsustainable. There is need to
domesticate, rather than ‘copy-and-paste’ applicable and appropriate guidelines and best
practices on sustainable tourism development and biodiversity conservation from
elsewhere.

It is all about balancing the two objectives