Veda Sunassee, CEO of the African Leadership UniversityCredit: African Leadership University
The African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation has published the first Wildlife Economy Investment Index (WEII) — a comprehensive report outlining how African countries could utilise their indigenous wildlife as an economic asset through effective conservation strategies.
The index serves as a framework to assess the potential of each African country, and their attractiveness, in terms of wildlife asset base and management practices, ease of doing business, public sector capacity, and investment safety.
To secure Africa's economic and ecological future from increasing biodiversity loss due to climate change, it is critical to create awareness of wildlife economies and promote investment in biodiversity regeneration and wildlife conservation.
"By viewing wildlife as an asset for sustainable economic development that deserves investment and conservation, African governments can tap into vast opportunities in employment and eco-businesses, as well as international partnerships and wider growth," says Veda Sunassee, CEO of the African Leadership University which produced the report.While the need for investment in this sector has long been identified, Sunassee says until now, there has been a lack of data highlighting where opportunities lie for sustainable wildlife economy ventures in Africa, and what challenges countries face in attracting funds from partnerships to fund them.
The report covers all 54 African countries, and comprises 280 indicators, ranging from species richness and ecological habitats to social inclusion and infrastructure. Each country’s overall performance on the index, as well as the individual indicators, are scored out of 100, making it possible to compare countries’ strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the report offers recommendations on how countries can improve their scores – and tap into the wildlife economy – whether through strengthening forest management practices to protect wildlife assets or improving property rights to better attract finance for conservation initiatives.
The WEII identifies five key opportunities for investment in the wildlife economy: ecotourism, the carbon market, hunting (including some aspects of fishing), wildlife ranching, and forest products. Together, they constitute a market share of more than $US 250 billion a year in Africa. In South Africa, for example, the wildlife economy doubled its contribution to GDP between 2008 and 2014 to USD 276.5 million – growing faster than the general economy.
Sue Snyman, Research Director of the School of Wildlife Conservation and co-author of the report, said, "the Wildlife Economy Investment Index is a first-of-its-kind tool that shows countries across the continent how they can conserve their wildlife in a way that generates new employment opportunities and empowers local and indigenous communities, all while promoting conservation.”
