Carrots or Sticks? How to Save a Giraffe

I love critters. So, this article in Smithsonian Magazine caught my eye. It's about an interesting conservation success story: the peralta giraffe, one of several subspecies, lives in the Sahel and in particular, in Niger. The peralta was on the verge of extinction as recently as 1996 when approximately 50 remained. (I love the author's choice of the word "galumph" to describe how giraffes move.)

In the past local people were in competition with the giraffes. People and animals were using the same resources. Both used trees--humans for heating and cooking and giraffes for food. Villagers planted beans to eat and giraffes like these also. So, for villagers giraffes were a nuisance -- an edible nuisance at that. Why should poor villagers leave trees for giraffes or otherwise make an effort to save them?

One answer might be this: the government of Niger outlawed tree cutting in the area where the giraffes live. People might leave trees alone because they'd face a legal penalty if they did so. But, as the story makes clear, villagers routinely ignored the law. Making a living was more important, and cutting wood to sell in cities was one way to earn some income.

Another answer might be that the government also prohibited hunting or poaching giraffes and imposed large fines for doing so. Unfortunately, this simply made giraffes even more of a pest than ever. As a Washington Post article on the same story points out, this made the giraffes "useless:" they compete with humans but humans were no longer able to hunt them for meat or sell their skins.

Some people might have been deterred by the larger fines associated with hunting giraffe, but I think the more likely explanation for the recovery is this: an NGO called, in English, Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger (ASGN in French), began a program that hopes to shift villagers' perceptions of giraffes from foe to friend. How? ASGN provides microloans to villagers who engage in giraffe-friendly behavior. It also encourages tourism related to giraffe viewing. The result is that villagers now appreciate the animals because the animals have brought development to them.

While this approach is not unique, it remains an important lesson for conservation efforts: people are much more likely to protect those things in which they have a direct interest.

- Karol