Valorisation of Madagascar’s wildlife trade and wildlife tourism; what are the conservation benefits?

Carpenter, Angus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0262-9895 and Andreone, Franco (2023) Valorisation of Madagascar’s wildlife trade and wildlife tourism; what are the conservation benefits? Preprints.org (202306). (Submitted to Publisher)

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Abstract

Wildlife tourism and wildlife trade may appear juxtaposed, but are two, potentially aligning, income generators that could benefit conservation in developing countries. Utilising data sets collated from Madagascar’s Ministère du Tourisme and CITES respectively for the period 2007 to 2018, this study estimated levels of income from wildlife tourism and wildlife trade for Madagascar. Between 2007-2018, tourism reported yearly incomes ranging from a low of US $1.4 million up to a high of US $15.7 million. However, it was unclear what percentage of this figure flowed to benefit local communities. Alternatively, using reported networks for the live wildlife trade, the estimated economic value reaching collectors and/or intermediaries on Madagascar was US $72,299.80 for the period 2007 to 2018. Both revenue generators operated within different geographical areas, with tourism opportunities presenting themselves to communities adjacent NPs, while wildlife trade networks were not restricted to NPs and operated sporadically across Madagascar. Hence, the economic benefits reached different Malagasy participants across the country. The management of both activities needs great care to ensure that environmental impacts and sustainability are core measures on any such activities. Whilst this study shines light on economic values and novel perspectives regarding these two trade types, it also highlighted knowledge gaps. Thus, indicating where much greater research attentions was required to allow better understanding of the specific benefits and risks from engaging with both trade types for local Malagasy people and their environments.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Preprints.org
Publisher:	MDPI
Departments:	Institute of Science and Environment > Forestry and Conservation
Additional Information:	This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2023 14:07
Last Modified:	19 Jun 2023 14:15
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7183

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