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The New Lion Economy Unlocking the Value of Lions and Their Landscapes Contents | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 | Section 6 | Section 7

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The New Lion Economy Unlocking the Value of Lions and Their Landscapes Contents | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 | Section 6 | Section 7 The New Lion Economy Unlocking the value of lions and their landscapes Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 You can download this publication at: www.lionrecoveryfund.org/newlioneconomy This publication has been made possible by funding from the Lion Recovery Fund, created by the Wildlife Conservation Network in partnership with the The New Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Published by: Equilibrium Research 47 The Quays, Cumberland Road, Spike Island, Bristol, BS1 6UQ, UK Lion Economy www.EquilibriumResearch.com Unlocking the value of lions Copyright: © Equilibrium Research, 2019 and their landscapes Citation: Stolton, S. and Dudley, N. 2019. The New Lion Economy. Unlocking the value of lions and their landscapes, Equilibrium Research, Bristol, UK ISBN: 978-1-9161884-0-2 Cover photo: © adobe.com Layout by: Miller Design millerdesign.co.uk The designation of geographical entities in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Lion Recovery Fund or other participating organisations concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 5. Lions have important livelihood, Contents cultural and political values 68 Symbols of indigenous cultures 70 1. Introducing the new lion economy 4 Experiencing lions in nature 72 Foreword 6 Lions as icons 74 Preface 8 Improving security 76 Executive summary 10 6. Lions can generate economic 2. Lions and ecosystems 14 Lions in the landscape 16 benefits and attract new sources Biodiversity: Driving political momentum for nature of revenue 78 conservation 18 What kind of economy do we want? 80 Ecosystem services: An introduction 20 The challenge of creating the new lion economy 82 Options for turning benefits from lions into 3. Lions directly support ecosystem financial value 84 Case study: Revealing Benin 88 services 22 Conclusions: Optimising ecosystem services Lion tourism: A key element 24 from lionscapes 90 Case study: Conservancies: recognising the role of ecosystem services 28 92 Trophy hunting of lions 30 7. End pieces Appendix 1: Declarations to recover lions 94 4. Lion conservation also supports Acknowledgments 95 References and notes 96 other ecosystem services 34 Ecosystem services from lionscapes 36 Saving the land: Disaster risk reduction 38 Storing carbon, mitigating climate change: in lionscapes 42 Case study: Lion Carbon: financing conservation in Zambia 46 Resilience to climate change in lionscapes 48 Saving water 50 Case study: Luangwa River, Zambia 52 Sharing land between lions and livestock 54 Water, soil and productivity 56 Forestry and non-timber forest products 60 Food and agriculture in lionscapes 62 Case study: Mopane worms, a source of funds and protein 64 Health from lionscapes 66 © Aksel Stevens © Aksel 2 The New Lion Economy The New Lion Economy 3 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 1.Introducing the new lion economy “Ultimately conservation is about people. If you don’t have sustainable development around these (wildlife) parks, then the people will have no interest in them, and the parks will not survive.” Nelson Mandela1 © Ewaso Lions 4 The New Lion Economy The New Lion Economy 5 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 The challenge is the steady pace of its economic growth. The challenge is how do we line Foreword up all the development goal blueprints and marshal the various interests how do we line up they represent in a way that ensures wildlife, like lions, have a future in all the development modern Africa? It is a question conservation groups like mine have been The lion – one of the world’s most iconic animal species – is facing asking but the way forward must come from a multitude of stakeholders a catastrophic decline, with Africa’s population dropping 50% in only goal blueprints – governments, industry leaders, the private sector and civil society, all twenty years. Lions will not survive the 21st century on goodwill alone. and marshal the working alongside conservation and environmental groups. Nor will they survive if reduced to being merely the centrepiece of a high status vacation for foreign visitors to the continent, or even the target of various interests Development and the protection of our ecosystems need not be mutually trophy hunters. they represent in a exclusive. Without stopping the pace of development, we must make better choices to minimize the consequences and net impact on nature’s Lion survival depends on Africa itself. This means drawing on the huge way that ensures ecosystems. All of these things demand galvanizing political will to cultural value that lions have in African society to build consensus about the wildlife, like lions, take action and now is the time to reflect about various costs – social, importance of their survival in the wild. More pragmatically, it depends on environmental and human, and to think about what’s going to happen people, governments and industry recognising that concern about lion survival have a future in when our most precious assets and resources are depleted. If we want to is not just harking back to a romanticised past, but symbolic of a whole © AWF modern Africa? change this, we all have to work together. range of other values that are at risk of disappearing along with the lion. I am happy to welcome this report, the first to look in detail at the wider It is exciting, as an African, living at a time when the continent is changing Lion survival ecosystem services from lion landscapes. I urge everyone, and particular in fundamental ways – finance, industry and politics are converging to young Africans – you are the majority, this is your future; as part of the create an opportunity for transformative change. But the Africa of 2030 depends on Africa process of building your stake and getting to the helm of what is becoming is being crafted today solely on socio-economic development aspirations. itself. This means the most important national asset – back the survival of lions and in doing In my travels across the continent and discussions with presidents, so help back a sustainable future for yourself and for our great continent. lawmakers, the youth, investors and other opinion leaders, I have come drawing on the huge Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya, to learn that many leaders see destruction of the environment and wildlife cultural value that Chief Executive Officer, African Wildlife Foundation crime as an existential threat. But this does not mean that they relate it to their national economic ambitions. The role that Africa’s unique natural lions have in African assets – wildlife and wildlands – will play in modern Africa are completely society to build left out of the discussion. consensus about the Despite Africa growing fast, economically, culturally and in the confidence importance of their of its mainly young citizens, the continent will continue to be reliant on the range of ecosystem services provided by its wildlife, forests, savannahs survival in the wild. and freshwaters: providing ecosystem services like clean water, buffering against floods and desertification, carbon storage, wild food and many more. Wildlife like the lions are indicators of many of these ecosystem services. A healthy lion population indicates healthy savannah and miombo, which in turn indicates vital contributions to food and water security, disaster risk reduction and climate stabilisation. Investing in lion conservation is not simply a charitable act that might protect populations of one particularly species, however important. It also protects the many commercial and subsistence values that rely on lions directly, or that rely on the landscapes where lions live, and come as a no-cost extra to conservation. This report shows that the economic development of Africa and conservation of nature are convergent not conflicting goals. It is a false dilemma to suppose that Africa’s wildlife and wild landscapes must or should be sacrificed in order for the continent to modernize and maintain © Peter Lindsey © Peter 6 The New Lion Economy The New Lion Economy 7 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 Contents | section 1 | section 2 | section 3 | section 4 | section 5 | section 6 | section 7 Preface “Just as a private sector investor will not invest We argue for a in something without knowing its likely returns, ‘new’ type of ‘lion the Government must also know the value of economy’ that nature, who is benefiting from it as well as the should be focused type of returns it is generating. This is vital to on investment in inform our planning and budgeting processes.” the management of Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment and Tourism, MP, Namibia2 areas with wildlife to The lion has become symbolic of the rapid economic growth experienced maintain ecosystem by some African countries. Labelled the ‘lion economies’ by policy makers and the press, commentators have had fun with wordplay related to ‘lions’, services and ensure ‘prides’ and ‘roars’.3,4 But despite the iconic place that the lion holds in that the latter African society, and the conscious linking of economic development with the power of lions, there has been little notice taken of the risks that this play a key role in development agenda brings for the lion itself.
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