This page sets out case for Wildlife Returns…
Support for the return of wildlife
Most people want wildlife to be conserved. We can see this in the widespread support for non-profit conservation organisations, the efforts of companies to be biodiversity responsible, the policies and regulations of governments, and commitments arising from multilateral processes. Once such international commitment is the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) launched under the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Most importantly, the GBF does not advocate conservation for the sake wild species. Rather its mission also focuses on securing benefits for people from reversing biodiversity loss:
- To take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and planet by conserving and sustainably using biodiversity…
The GBF goals address both wild species and people:
- The extinction rate and risk of all species are reduced tenfold, and the abundance of native wild species is increased to healthy and resilient levels…
- Biodiversity is sustainably used and managed and nature’s contributions to people… are valued, maintained, and enhanced…
Hence, the GBF connects the return of wildlife to returns for people from wildlife. To accomplish this, it calls for “urgent policy action… globally, regionally and nationally” and “transformative, innovative and transdisciplinary education.” In
response, at the Vinson Centre, we are establishing an academic platform for wildlife enterprise and entrepreneurship. It will support of the policies, laws, regulations, and voluntary actions needed to return wildlife by generating returns to
wildlife.
In addition, trends suggest that consumers are increasingly concerned and conscious of how their products are being sourced, and whether practices and value chains are sustainable and responsible. Voluntary standards and certification schemes are becoming more popular, global searches for sustainable goods have risen significantly, and businesses of all sizes are now reacting to these consumer demands. This presents the opportunity to be at the forefront of this movement towards sustainably sourced wild products through voluntary, liberalised market processes.
Wildlife Returns promotes a wider and deeper understanding of how private wildlife use rights, wildlife entrepreneurship and enterprise, and liberalised trade can both conserve wildlife and enhance human well-being.
Barriers to wildlife returns
Policy action is indeed needed because most wildlife habitat is state owned or controlled, thus severely limiting opportunities for wildlife enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Across the planet, governments own vast tracks of terrestrial and marine areas – forests, savannahs, wetlands, mountains, coastal areas, and marine exclusive economic zones. These include state-owned forests, legally protected areas, and trust lands. In Canada, for example, 89% of land is owned by the government, in the US it is 28%, and in some countries like Ethiopia and Tanzania it is 100%.
Most wild species are also de jure or de facto state owned. In Canada and the USA, this is known as the public trust doctrine which places ownership of wild species in the hands of the state to be managed for public benefit. In Kenya, the Kenya Wildlife
Service has de facto control over all wildlife. With wild species very much under government control, it is challenging at best for private enterprise and entrepreneurship to use these resources to effectively and efficiently. In some cases, however, such as in South Africa or the UK, landowners have some use rights to wild species albeit with ongoing state interference.
Internationally, there is also much stronger focus on stopping illegal wildlife trade rather than on enabling legal wildlife trade. For example, the World Bank’s Global Wildlife Program was “created to combat wildlife poaching, trafficking, and demand.” The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is commonly seen as a mechanism for banning wildlife trade. There is also an EU action plan against wildlife trafficking, and the UK taxpayer finances an Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund.
In short, today we have widespread state ownership and control of wild species and their habitats, restrictive laws and regulations regarding the use of wild species, and high-profile global initiatives to stop wildlife trade and reduce the demand for wildlife products. Market-based, entrepreneurial approaches to wildlife management are rarely considered as an option for conservation.
To generate wildlife returns – both ecological returns and economic returns – these barriers need to be tackled by devolving wildlife use rights to landowners. liberalising trade in wildlife products, and reforming policies and regulations to support wildlife entrepreneurship.
Wildlife Returns aims to address these barriers through its support for wildlife enterprise and entrepreneurship. This support includes collaborative learning, thought leadership, and impactful partnerships.
Policies supporting wildlife returns
Most interestingly, however, the substantive barriers to wildlife returns are at odds with the thrust of multilateral conservation policies. For all the challenges and shortcomings of multilateral policy making, when national governments get together, they generally support pragmatic and utilitarian approaches to wildlife conservation aligned with economic development and enhancing rural livelihoods.
Notably, the Parties to the CBD have agreed on a strong mandate for the use and trade of wild species. CBD Decision 15/23 explicitly calls for:
- the mainstreaming of the sustainable use of biodiversity, in particular that of wild species, into all relevant sectors.
Further, the GBF has explicit targets promoting on the use of wild species:
- GBF Target 5 – Ensure that the use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe, and legal…
- GBF Target 9 – Ensure that the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing social, economic, and environmental benefits for people…
The Strategic Vision of CITES also calls for legal wildlife trade:
- By 2030, all international trade in wild fauna and flora is legal and sustainable, consistent with the long-term conservation of species…
Further, at its recent World Conservation Congress, the members of the International Unionfor Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which include States, Government Agencies, and NGOs, adopted a resolution (WCC-2025-Res-081) to
- to promote and support mechanisms and strategies for meeting Targets 5 and 9 [and]
- to oversee the development of a statement, detailed strategy, and workplan for mainstreaming the sustainable use of wild species into the Union’s work.
In short, there is a clear multilateral mandate to address barriers to the use and trade of wild species, to mainstream this use into economic sectors, and for people to benefit from this use. Wildlife Returns supports policies and enabling actions to ensure that the management, harvesting, and trade of wild species are legal, sustainable, and beneficial to people.