SCIENCE and safari hunting are the twin prongs in a plan to revive one of
southern Africa鈥檚 most valuable national parks, Gorongosa in war-ravaged
Mozambique. British researchers this week begin a 拢2-million contract to
mastermind the rehabilitation of the largest and most biologically diverse park
in a country ranked by the World Bank as the world鈥檚 poorest.
鈥淏ut first we have to find what is there,鈥� says Phil O鈥橩eefe, professor of
geography of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and a director
of ETC International, the company running the project. The project, which he
says will 鈥渄ictate much of the environmental research at the university over the
next five years鈥�, will draw up an inventory of animals in the derelict park,
using transects to count droppings and native methods of tracking animals in the
bush.
The long-term aim is to create not so much a natural wilderness as an
economic asset. After eliminating poaching, O鈥橩eefe鈥檚 team wants to restock the
park, which is part-bush and part-forest, with 鈥渄esirable species for safari
hunting鈥�, mainly elephant, hippopotamus and buffalo.
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ETC argues that some species should be introduced for the benefit of
鈥渆cotourists鈥�. But it warns that ecotourism 鈥渄oes not provide as large a return
as safari hunting鈥�, which it describes as 鈥渁 highly profitable and economically
sound form of land use, especially for areas lacking other scenic attractions鈥�.