ABSTRACT
During the colonial period in Africa a particular approach to wildlife conservation emerged. It assumed that the main threat to wildlife came from the human exploitation of wildlife and that the appropriate policy response lay in the creation of protected areas and wide-ranging restrictions on hunting. CITES, which was first signed in 1973, accepted some of the assumptions of the colonial approach. It treated the international commercial trade in wildlife as the chief threat to many species and it imposed further restrictions on that trade on top of the existing domestic restrictions. This approach to wildlife conservation has been coming under strain in recent years. The enforcement of restrictions has become increasingly difficult and some protected areas have become the stamping grounds of poachers. It has also become apparent that, for many species, the major threat comes, not from trade, but from the loss of habitat. This has led some to propose a new way of conserving wildlife, based on the notion of sustainable use. The central idea is that unless wild species can provide benefits to humans they will not be conserved in the long run.
