In particular, elephants do not magically maintain static numbers. Unless held back by the hand of man they increase and ultimately destroy their own environment. In the recent drought in Zimbabwe it was difficult to distinguish the wasteland in parks caused by elephants from the wasteland outside caused by people and cattle forced to live on inhospitable land. In short, preservationist strategies, as they are currently constituted, have brought about the opposite to what they, presumably, intended. While recognising these failings, Zimbabweans take no pleasure in doom and gloom scenarios, preferring to look for solutions rather than dwell on problems.
Progress depends on changing the dominant paradigm and moving away from protectionism.
We believe that the solution revolves around the need, not to take away value from wildlife, but to increase it. If the right mechanisms are in place we can return the management of wildlife to rural communities so that they can reap direct benefits, ending, or at least ameliorating the conflict between man and wildlife that is endemic in rural Africa. In this way, wildlife becomes a tool for development and we create incentives that dramatically increase the likelihood that rural people will practise conservation by ensuring that offtakes are sustainable and also that they will at least tolerate the protected areas around them. This programme is most prominent in highly traditional and poor subsistence farming communities around protected areas. And by and large they are doing it well.