strategy
Developing business opportunities to conserve wild species
Synonyms:
Promoting commercialization of biodiversity Context:
Sectors that are directly dependent upon the use of local species harvested from the wild, and the renewal of such resources, include the fishing, woodharvesting, hunting, wildflower, traditional medicine, and other natural product industries. Reliance upon wild species at the subsistence level includes the gathering, harvesting or hunting of animals and plants for food, medicine, shelter, fuel, building materials, and trade.Would-be biodiversity entrepreneurs should inventory their available resources and start with products that have known markets. They should then analyze their markets and the competition, calculate production costs against potential revenues to evaluate whether new techniques or capital investments are warranted; aim to add value locally; consider cooperating with other communities; network with the appropriate fair trade networks and diversify over time.
Implementation:
A large proportion of South Africa's population are directly dependent upon biological resources for subsistence purposes, including the gathering, harvesting or hunting of animals and plants for food, medicine, shelter, fuel, building materials, and trade. The use of biological resources thus provides an important buffer against poverty, as well as opportunities for self-employment in the informal sector. Several industries are also directly dependent upon the use of local species for economic gain. For example, the South African fishing, hunting, wildflower, horticulture, natural product and wood-harvesting industries are all, to varying extents, reliant upon species harvested from the wild.China has been very successful at cultivating hybrid plants from a wide range of wild species, making China one of the world's three largest centres of origin for cultivated plants. There are 237 species of cultivated plants and many species, genetically related to cultivated plants, still exist in their wild form. In China, there are more than six hundred species of commonly cultivated crops, more than ten thousand species of fruit trees and more than four hundred species of domestic animal and fowl.
Broader:
Developing corporate biodiversity strategiesDeveloping management strategies for biodiversity conservation Facilitated by:
Regulating trade in endangered speciesEnhancing corporate environmental responsibilityProviding incentives to farmers for biodiversity conservationProviding financial incentives to landowners for biodiversity conservation Problems:
Commercialization of natureCommercialization of wildlife
Commercialization of wildlife
Lack of community economic development models for biodiversity conservation
Lack of private sector involvement in biodiversity conservation
Values:
Business Organizations:
IUCN/SSC Sustainable Use Specialist Group Subjects:
Biosciences → Evolution and speciesGeography → Wild
Communication → Promotion
Commerce → Commerce
Commerce → Business enterprises
Development → Development
Conservation → Conservation
Type Classification:
E: Emanations of other strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
