Re-examining local and market-orientated use of wild species for the conservation of biodiversity

The hypothesis of attaching and realising market values as one means of con serving biodiversity has gained ground over the last decade. This has been challenged recently after examination of a number of case studies, largely from tropical Amazonia, on high value logging, marketing of non-timber fore st products, and bioprospecting. The conclusion was that market-orientated conservation has seldom generated the financial returns envisaged, and as s uch cannot be used as an incentive to prevent land transformation. This pap er reviews the basis of the challenge to market-orientated conservation on a number of grounds, drawing on examples largely from southern Africa. It c oncludes that generalizations from tropical Amazonia regarding the failure of market-orientated conservation are probably premature, and that it shoul d remain an option, amongst a number of options, for conservation of biodiv ersity. Additionally, the prerequisite criteria identified as necessary to create an enabling framework for the success of market-orientated conservat ion are insufficient. Case studies are presented where the prerequisites do not apply, yet current extraction for market purposes is sustainable. Othe r potential prerequisites are also considered. There is a need for multivar iate analysis, based on a large sample size drawn from across a range of en vironments and resources, of which factors are important prerequisites for successful market-orientated conservation, and under which circumstances.