Steep decline

A productive meeting with good levels of engagement all day today on questions of lion conservation and black rhino reintroduction in the landscape. We had some good presentations from species experts who shared the very depressing statistics on rhino decline in Africa and Tanzania when human-induced losses really kicked in steeply in the 1960s. In that decade there were an estimated 850,000 black rhino in Africa, and they were decimated until they hit a low figure of less than 2,500 in the mid-1990s. It has stabilised and is gradually increasing now, but the situation remains precarious and requires intensive efforts.

It’s very typical for government departments in remote regions of countries to get transfixed on ambitious ideas such as reintroducing impressive wildlife to places where they’ve been lost. It is seen as a revenue earner through tourism and and something that can bring prestige to overlooked places.

However it’s much more complex than sedating a black rhino and trucking it in from South Africa. The ideas usually neglect to consider infrastructure barriers, financial viability or the protection capacity for wildlife once it’s been reintroduced. We spent today making cautionary inputs to the wildest ideas, tempering the ambition to be more realistic and long-term. The next steps agreed are still on the ambitious side, but a little more nuanced than at the start of the day.

The meeting venue was pleasant. During break times we nibbled on peanuts poolside next to other attendees.