Why is this interesting? - The Conservation Edition

Colin here. When we talk about Africa, we often hear the word conservation. It’s a large, catch-all that covers everything from anti-poaching to preservation of land and wilderness. I just spent a few days in the Serengeti, and realized that this is almost definitely too soft of a word. There’s a full-fledged crisis in land and animal destruction, and given the pace and scale of population growth in Africa, the compounding effect will lead to disaster. 

Last week, I had the good fortune of visiting one of the most high-functioning land preserves in Tanzania, called Grumeti. It is a project that has had astounding success in protecting wildlife — ranging from wildebeest, giraffes, elephants, and many other animals in the ecosystem. 

The dangers are many. Poachers are looking to trap and snare animals to feed into a thriving bushmeat trade around the world as well as killing them for horns, skins, and teeth. Outside of poachers there’s also the human/wildlife conflict, whereby farmers kill animals for destroying crops. 

A large reason for this is economic. In impoverished villages, there often are bad options. And when you consider how lucrative the poaching trade can be, the idea of conservation and animal protection seems like a hard sell to someone that is trying to put food on the table. 

Why is this interesting? 

The role of humans in these wildlife areas cannot be overstated. While in the preserve we saw a baby elephant with a snare around its foot, walking with a limp. The snare was a piece of metal wire extracted from a tire, intended to trap another smaller animal for bush meat. But it was non-discriminatory. Thankfully, on this preserve, there are game scouts responsible for anti-poaching, going on patrol to find and interdict a lot of activity. They arrived on site, kept track of the animal, and eventually managed to get the wire removed (despite a very angry mother). These teams only intervene when there’s been evidence of a human impact on the animals; the typical circle of life that we watch on BBC documentaries is fair game, and allowed to play out naturally. 

The point here is that there are many thousands of snares put into the bush, and animals that are operating outside of a well-run and maintained reserve are not so lucky. The poachers, given how lucrative the trade is, are becoming more and more sophisticated, doing serious reconnaissance and running mini-intelligence networks. It is a game of cat and mouse. 

I spoke to some of the anti-poaching team, and without getting into too much detail, they are running not unlike a counter-insurgency operation that would be conducted in Iraq or Afghanistan. There’s intelligence, data collection, a deep understanding of the supply chain of munitions, and also the human networks that are driving the trade. There’s also a K-9 unit that helps to detect contraband, rapport-building with local villages, and countless feedback loops to ensure an ever-improving training operation. There’s even an accredited CrossFit in the bush to help the scouts level up. 

This is some of the most sophisticated anti-poaching work going on anywhere, but it represents a small section of the country. When you extrapolate these issues outwards into Africa, often in countries with weak leadership from their governments, you can start to see the vast scope and scale of the problem. Without systemic change—meaning a population that sees value in the land and wildlife, sees opportunities to make a career out of guiding or otherwise participating in the tourism, and conservation ecosystem—the ability to see some of these animals in the wild will become a luxury good that dwindles and disappears in time. (CJN)

Lion of the Day: 

Good Deed of the Day: 

The Grumeti Fund “employs 165 dedicated staff to protect, manage and monitor Grumeti’s concessions and wildlife.  Thanks to their passion and commitment, the near-barren plains of ten years ago teem with wildlife once more. In fact, the great herds are once again lingering in this scenically spectacular region during the annual migration, a direct result of our team effectively protecting and re-stabilizing this fragile ecosystem.”

You should consider a donation, which can be done here. (CJN) 

Quick Links:

• Not a link, but just a quick note: We aren’t covering domestic politics here. It’s not because it isn’t important, but because we think there are many more qualified voices for that kind of information. It’s obviously been a pretty intense few days (and weeks and months) in the US and I thought it was worth noting our policy again so you all don’t think we’re just ignoring things. (NRB)

• Good piece from Benedict Evans on why Netflix isn’t a tech company. “The more that we see new companies using software to create new businesses in industries outside of technology, the more generally this applies. In particular, I find this a useful way to look at, for example, the explosion of so-called ‘D2C’ - companies that are creating new consumer goods and selling them online ‘directly to consumers’ instead of going through existing retailing channels (at least to begin with). For all of these companies, it’s crucial to execute the online channel properly - the user acquisition model and funnel and browsing and shopping cart and logistics and so on all have to be good. It’s not easy to do this, and we often see legacy, physical retailers struggling. But again, executing this properly is not the same as defensibility.” (NRB)

• I thought this bit about Woodstock and commemoration culture from Hua Hsu’s review of the new 38-disc Woodstock archive. “The legend of Woodstock became a business model. The festival didn’t invent rock nostalgia, but as the most visceral stand-in for sixties utopianism it lives at the forefront of commemoration culture, helping to fuel the sense that the more we turn any anniversary into an event, the more we might understand the past.” (NRB)

Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN)