Tag SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL

31 Jan

THE INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE PAPER DOES NOT PROVE THE BENEFITS OF TROPHY HUNTING

The EMS Foundation has analysed the IUCN document, which is typically hauled out by proponents of trophy hunting or referred to by governments who have become reluctant to ban trophy hunting imports. The analysis serves primarily to inform the British government's deliberations over whether to ban trophy imports (and what kind of ban would be appropriate). More broadly, it exposes holes in the paper's arguments and brings other evidence to bear that suggests it has not been sufficiently rigorous in its appraisal of the conservation benefits of trophy hunting. In a nutshell, it provides a contrary view to conventional wisdom in conservation circles and suggests that alternatives to trophy hunting are feasible and socio-ecologically preferable in the long run.

The Long Tentacles of Safari Club International (SCI) Undermining Conservation Efforts in Africa

It is time to put an end to the narrative that poor rural African communities unequivocally support trophy hunting. It is also time to put an end to the idea that trophy hunting can somehow be well governed in corrupt contexts. The practice is self-evidently repugnant, and the willingness of some scientists to ignore such repugnance in the name of science is deeply unscientific. There is, in the end, no dichotomy between morality and science. The fact that the SCI and its Foundation have to go to such great lengths to justify killing under the banner of ‘conservation’, and actively exclude dissenting voices through AWCF meetings, tells you everything you need to know. Trophy hunting is fundamentally extractive and clearly has colonial roots. Rationalising it now as an anti-colonial policy choice under ‘sovereignty’ is deeply disingenuous.