ABSTRACT
The world’s wildlands and wildlife are severely depleted, and the pressures that the remainder will face over the next century are set to be of phenomenal proportions. It is possible to make the North’s desire for diversity compatible with the South’s need for development. This is the role for a carefully defined strategy of wildlife utilization. Wildlife utilization affords the possibility of making development consistent with diversity. At the heart of a new conservation policy is enabling local communities to make use of the diversity that exists all around them. To date there has been little conservation benefit from much wildlife exploitation, and many attempts at wildland utilization have gone astray. Therefore, wildlife utilization is important because it is an important value to harness for the sustenance of wildlands. In essence, all that “wildlife utilization” means as a concept is the recognition of the North’s obligation to pay for the maintenance of diversity in the South.
