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Estimating economic losses to tourism in Africa from the illegal killing of elephants

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Naidoo

    (World Wildlife Fund US
    Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia)

  • Brendan Fisher

    (Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont)

  • Andrea Manica

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Andrew Balmford

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Recent surveys suggest tens of thousands of elephants are being poached annually across Africa, putting the two species at risk across much of their range. Although the financial motivations for ivory poaching are clear, the economic benefits of elephant conservation are poorly understood. We use Bayesian statistical modelling of tourist visits to protected areas, to quantify the lost economic benefits that poached elephants would have delivered to African countries via tourism. Our results show these figures are substantial (∼USD $25 million annually), and that the lost benefits exceed the anti-poaching costs necessary to stop elephant declines across the continent’s savannah areas, although not currently in the forests of central Africa. Furthermore, elephant conservation in savannah protected areas has net positive economic returns comparable to investments in sectors such as education and infrastructure. Even from a tourism perspective alone, increased elephant conservation is therefore a wise investment by governments in these regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Naidoo & Brendan Fisher & Andrea Manica & Andrew Balmford, 2016. "Estimating economic losses to tourism in Africa from the illegal killing of elephants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13379
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13379
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    Cited by:

    1. van de Water, Antoinette & Henley, Michelle & Bates, Lucy & Slotow, Rob, 2022. "The value of elephants: A pluralist approach," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    2. Vincent R. Nyirenda & Bimo A. Nkhata & Oscar Tembo & Susan Siamundele, 2018. "Elephant Crop Damage: Subsistence Farmers’ Social Vulnerability, Livelihood Sustainability and Elephant Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Meyer, Maximilian & Hulke, Carolin & Kamwi, Jonathan & Kolem, Hannah & Börner, Jan, 2022. "Spatially heterogeneous effects of collective action on environmental dependence in Namibia’s Zambezi region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    4. Chidakel, Alexander & Child, Brian & Muyengwa, Shylock, 2021. "Evaluating the economics of park-tourism from the ground-up: Leakage, multiplier effects, and the enabling environment at South Luangwa National Park, Zambia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Silvio Cristiano & Francesco Gonella, 2020. "‘Kill Venice’: a systems thinking conceptualisation of urban life, economy, and resilience in tourist cities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Chidakel, Alexander & Child, Brian, 2022. "Convergence and divergence in the economic performance of wildlife tourism within multi-reserve landscapes," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

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