South Africa's struggle to manage wildlife ranching

Dr Tariro Kamuti, SANBI postdoctoral fellow, in the Global Risk Governance programme, Law Faculty, UCT, has a recent opinion piece in The Conversation, titled 'South Africa's struggle to manage wildlife ranching.' 

Over the past few decades, South Africa has seen a dramatic conversion from livestock or crop farming to wildlife ranching – known locally as game farming. The result has been a rapid rise in areas enclosed by game fences and a high demand for wildlife. Animals are increasingly being traded privately and at wildlife auctions.

But regulation hasn’t kept up with this growth. This is despite the fact that key environmental and agricultural laws have been passed since 1994 that affect the wildlife sector in a number of ways. This includes property rights, the redistribution of land and the conservation of biodiversity. The policy changes were driven mainly by the need to integrate South Africa into the international community and to bring about economic and social transformation in a democratic state.

Read the full article in The Conversation here>>>