Community-based trophy hunting: Integrating conservation and community livelihoods
2021
The Hindu Kush Karakoram Pamir landscape (HKPL) is an important habitat for several iconic species of wildlife, including the critically endangered Himalayan brown bear (<em>Ursus arctos isabellinus</em>), the endangered Marco Polo sheep (<em>Ovis ammon polii</em>), and the near threatened snow leopard (<em>Panthera uncia</em>), among others. In the late 1990s, Pakistan and Tajikistan introduced trophy hunting with community participation as a conservation tool to combat illicit hunting and poaching of wild animals. With a large part of the trophy hunting fees (80%) going directly to local communities, community-based trophy hunting programmes (CTHPs) have become a significant source of revenue for conservation and management of wildlife populations and their habitats. However, given the debates about the morality, economics, and efficacy of trophy hunting for conservation, other approaches may also have to be considered. Biodiversity credits - a novel conservation approach that acknowledges local communities for protecting rare and endangered wildlife against poaching - may be an economically viable and socially acceptable alternative with possible applicability in the HKPL.
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