IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Murray, C.K. | |
| The lion's share? On the economic benefits of trophy hunting. A report prepared by economists at large for Human Society International | |
| 2017 Full Book | |
Pro-hunting group Safari Club International (SCI) recently published material entitled 'The Conservation Equation'. The claimed 'equation' is a simple one - that trophy hunting equals conservation of African wildlife and habitat. SCI's claims are based on a commissioned study by consultants Southwick Associates. This study estimated the economic benefits of trophy hunting in eight African countries - Botswana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Southwick, 2015). They claim that the overall economic benefit from their estimated 18,815 trophy hunter visits is $USD 426 million to the studied eight countries, and that trophy hunting directly and indirectly supports 53,000 jobs. In fact, trophy hunting contributes significantly less to the eight study economies, job markets, and African conservation. Reviewing the study behind The Conservation Equation, this analysis finds that: Economic benefits have been heavily overstated, with Southwick (2015) claiming that trophy hunting contributes $426 million; a more realistic estimate is less than $132 million per year. Marginal contribution from trophy hunting to employment is not 53,000 jobs, as claimed by Southwick (2015), but more likely in the range of 7,500 - 15,500 jobs. While overall tourism is between 2.8% and 5.1% of GDP in the eight study countries, the total economic contribution of trophy hunters is at most about 0.03% of GDP. Foreign trophy hunters make up less than 0.1% of tourists on average. The adjusted value of Southwick's economic contribution of trophy hunting ($132 million or less) amounts to only 0.78% or less of the $17 billion in overall tourism spending in the studied countries. Trophy hunting tourism employment is only 0.76% or less of average direct tourism employment in study countries. |
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