TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimization of wildlife management in a large game reserve through waterpoints manipulation
T2 - a bio-economic analysis
AU - Mwakiwa, Emmanuel
AU - de Boer, Willem F.
AU - Hearne, John W.
AU - Slotow, Rob
AU - van Langevelde, Frank
AU - Peel, Mike
AU - Grant, Cornelia C.
AU - Pretorius, Yolanda
AU - Stigter, Johannes D.
AU - Skidmore, Andrew K.
AU - Heitkönig, Ignas M. A.
AU - de Knegt, Henrik J.
AU - Kohi, Edward M.
AU - Knox, Nicky
AU - Prins, Herbert H. T.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Surface water is one of the constraining resources for herbivore populations in semi-arid regions. Artificial waterpoints are constructed by wildlife managers to supplement natural water supplies, to support herbivore populations. The aim of this paper is to analyse how a landowner may realize his ecological and economic goals by manipulating waterpoints for the management of an elephant population, a water-dependent species in the presence of water-independent species. We develop a theoretical bio-economic framework to analyse the optimization of wildlife management objectives (in this case revenue generation from both consumptive and non-consumptive use and biodiversity conservation), using waterpoint construction as a control variable. The model provides a bio-economic framework for analysing optimization problems where a control has direct effects on one herbivore species but indirect effects on the other. A landowner may be interested only in maximization of profits either from elephant offtake and/or tourism revenue, ignoring the negative effects that could be brought about by elephants to biodiversity. If the landowner does not take the indirect effects of waterpoints into consideration, then the game reserve management, as the authority entrusted with the sustainable management of the game reserve, might use economic instruments such as subsidies or taxes to the landowners to enforce sound waterpoint management.
AB - Surface water is one of the constraining resources for herbivore populations in semi-arid regions. Artificial waterpoints are constructed by wildlife managers to supplement natural water supplies, to support herbivore populations. The aim of this paper is to analyse how a landowner may realize his ecological and economic goals by manipulating waterpoints for the management of an elephant population, a water-dependent species in the presence of water-independent species. We develop a theoretical bio-economic framework to analyse the optimization of wildlife management objectives (in this case revenue generation from both consumptive and non-consumptive use and biodiversity conservation), using waterpoint construction as a control variable. The model provides a bio-economic framework for analysing optimization problems where a control has direct effects on one herbivore species but indirect effects on the other. A landowner may be interested only in maximization of profits either from elephant offtake and/or tourism revenue, ignoring the negative effects that could be brought about by elephants to biodiversity. If the landowner does not take the indirect effects of waterpoints into consideration, then the game reserve management, as the authority entrusted with the sustainable management of the game reserve, might use economic instruments such as subsidies or taxes to the landowners to enforce sound waterpoint management.
KW - Artificial waterpoint
KW - Associated Private Nature Reserves
KW - Southern Africa
KW - Analytical modelling
KW - Elephant
KW - Water-dependence
KW - Biodiversity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871732050&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.10.029
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.10.029
M3 - Article
C2 - 23183144
AN - SCOPUS:84871732050
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 114
SP - 352
EP - 361
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
ER -