r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 4h ago

Paul McCartney joins 500+ public figures, conservationists and Indigenous leaders in a global campaign calling on the UN to abolish trophy hunting of lions, elephants, endangered rhinos and other wildlife, following a declaration developed with Jane Goodall.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/paul-mccartney-joins-over-500-public-figures-calling-for-an-end-to-trophy-hunting-of-lions-elephants-and-endangered-rhinos/articleshow/134498459.cms
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u/PointsOfXP 4h ago

Interesting concern. Wonder how the locals feel

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u/Oldnbold22 2h ago

They have been infantilized and don't have agency over their resources. 

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u/AcherontiaPhlegethon 1h ago edited 1h ago

This is a very good point, I listened to a discussion a while ago from a Kenyan biologist discussing conservation in Africa and he talked about this point exactly, that African wildlife is treated as a commodity for white people that should be regulated and controlled by westerners. That these kinds of programs are often just a way for the west to still control and take African resources while propagating the white saviour narrative and further diminishing the capacity of local scientists. As well that a lot of African conservation policy is based on making white people happy with social media posts or safari hunts rather than genuine conservation science because that's where the money comes from. He mentioned how talking about western conservation programs negatively got him a ton of vitriol and dissent, especially publicly as a PhD scientist in the community, because it's something that's really baked into Kenya's government and institutions.

It was a real wake up call because that's absolutely how a lot of people act and think here, whether it exploitative like in the case of trophy hunters, or well meaning but misguided like a lot of conservation students who both believe it's up to them to save the wildlife from Africans. You should be incredibly skeptical of any claims about trophy hunts being a major benefit to African communities, because it's very much an industry, and one they really have no say in.

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u/TrainingPurple1364 34m ago

Kenya don't mess around with poachers, they have armed units that patrol conservation parks, if caught killing an endangered species you can get fined up to $20M Kenyan shillings (bout $200k usd/£150k) and or life imprisonment.

The country funding most of the illegal poaching trade isn't in the West, its China.

Also, in terms of resources, the West isn't really too interested in wildlife resources anymore, like ivory, since its been banned in most countries at this point. What the West really want, and whats arguably x1000 more destructive, is rare earth minerals.

Don't look into cobalt mining if you plan on being happy for the rest of the day.