Eating Worms and Protecting Parks
(ENN, Nov 17, 2003)
The mopane worm -- Imbrassia belina to entomologists -- is a large caterpillar
that feeds on the leaves of the mopane tree in southern Africa. It is also high
in fat and protein, has a gritty texture and a slightly meaty taste when fried,
and is considered a delicacy by many people in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and
South Africa.
The worm is a traditional source of cheap protein. It is an important part of
the market for edible insects in the region, which is estimated to be in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
The future of the caterpillar is tied into a larger tug-of-war between
community rights and conservation over how to best manage resources. In some
forests it is becoming difficult to find these once-abundant caterpillars due
to over-harvesting. Meanwhile, the mopane worm is flourishing in some parks and
nature preserves where harvesting is not permitted.
Chenai Chibhememe is from Chiredzi, a community close to Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou
National Park. She is hoping to take advantage of the mopane forests in the
park to help boost the protein base for people in her community, some of whom
suffer from malnutrition. "I wish to benefit from sustainable harvest of
mopane worms which we eat as relish, if the government of Zimbabwe introduces a
law to allow us to benefit from resources inside Gonarezhou," she said.
But most conservationists oppose this idea. Gauging sustainable levels of
harvest is no simple task. And opening the park to harvesting could further
decimate the population by degrading some of the remaining refuges for the
caterpillar, which help replenish populations outside the park. An expert on the
mopane worm, entomologist Rob Toms of the Transvaal Museum in South Africa, has
recommended that communities farm the caterpillar on cultivated trees as a
sustainable solution to feeding communities and protecting the edible bug's
wild populations.
A few hundred miles away, these types of issues were being discussed by park
officials from around the world in Durban, South Africa, at the Fifth World
Parks Congress in September. The theme of the congress --"Benefits Beyond
Boundaries" -- spurred significant interest from communities living near
the large parks and preserves in southern Africa.
"We need to recognize, as a community of professional managers, that
non-profit groups, local communities, indigenous peoples, and other groups are
a crucial part of preserving and managing parklands," said Dr. Kenton
Miller, head of the parks congress steering committee and vice president for
conservation at the World Resources Institute. Parks and protected areas are
vital sources of human livelihoods, he said, and they bring important benefits
to those living beyond their boundaries, from crucial ecosystem services like
storing water to providing revenue from tourism.
"Right now, many potential allies have not been recognized for their
actual or potential contribution to this vast job," said Dr. Miller.
"But if we include these people, the work of managing protected areas
becomes much more manageable."
South Africa's Makuleke community, settled next to Kruger National Park, is
cashing in on its proximity to the massive game preserve. In 2002, the Makuleke
finished building the "Makuleke Outpost," a lodge built inside the
park after the community successfully pushed for the return of 25,000 hectares
of ancestral lands. The Makuleke had been forcibly removed from the land 33
years ago to make way for the establishment of the park.
Tourists visiting the lodge pay an all-inclusive US$428 a day, which covers
lodge fees, food, drinks, and tours that bring them in touch with the wild.
About 10 percent of the funds go to support the community.
The Makuleke have already signed a contract with Wilderness Safaris, a leading
tourism company in Southern Africa, to build and operate three more lodges.
While this means more jobs and more tourism dollars to be used for community projects,
conservationists are increasingly concerned about the impacts of tourism on
parks.
Finding a balance between community benefits and conservation priorities is a
work in progress. But the parks congress "marked a growing maturity in our
understanding of the values and benefits of protected areas to broader
society," said Achim Steiner, director general of the World Conservation
Union (IUCN). The action plan from the congress calls for greater participation
from local communities in making decisions about park management and the
benefits that are derived from parks.
At the conclusion of the parks congress representatives from rural communities
throughout the world came together to emphasize the need that their communities
receive benefits from national parks and protected areas. Parks "will
remain meaningless as long as they are managed as islands of wealth in a sea of
rural poverty," said Messias Langa, one of the Mozambican community
representatives at the congress.
"We can't have our protected areas and exploit them to death too,"
said Dr. Miller. "If biodiversity is important to us, as well as all of
the other services that parks provide, then we cannot open up every place to
extraction. The issue is to get the benefits from parks to reach and help
people living out beyond the boundaries." (WRI Features, 851 words)