LONG HAUL FLIGHTS CAN HELP CONSERVATION (and carbon capture)

When discussing our next family safari in Kenya I was asked why someone like me who is passionate about conservation and sustainability takes long haul air trips.

This is something that I have thought about long and hard. Protecting wild places and wildlife is really important for me and I have seen that responsible tourism is a real conservation tool. I know too well that there are many protected areas that would be lost if it was not for the tourist revenues that they generate and when considering the trade offs I have made my choices.

These areas are important for biodiversity and also help with climate change as explained in a WWF publication - ‘The Importance of Grasslands, Savannahs and Rangelands in Global Climate Change Strategies’. This states, “Grasslands, savannahs and rangelands (GSRs) are huge carbon stores, vital global resources for biodiversity, food and freshwater security, and offer many ecosystem services to support climate mitigation and adaptation. High biodiversity GSRs generally have the greatest mitigation and adaptation benefits.”

It is of course important to think about ways to reduce carbon emissions, but I think that not enough focus is given to carbon sequestration.  Forests and GSR’s retain significant amounts of carbon in vegetation and soil. They are also vitally important for preserving biodiversity and to the carbon, water and energy cycles. They are being lost at an alarming rate and the destruction of these habitats leads to often irreversible biodiversity loss and the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. On the other hand the preservation of these habitats absorbs greenhouse gases and provides many other gains.

A Global Rewilding Alliance publication, 'Animating the Carbon Cycle' explains that, "it is widely assumed that carbon capture and storage and biodiversity conservation are functionally unrelated. This assumption overlooks the critical role that biodiversity - particularly animal species - plays in controlling carbon uptake and storage in ecosystems. Indeed, scientific research is now showing that restoring wildlife populations to significant, near historic levels has the potential to supercharge climate mitigation."

The example I often use is the famous Maasai Mara in Kenya. It is part of the Greater Mara-Serengeti ecosystem and contiguous to the vast Serengeti landscape in Tanzania. On the Kenyan side the wider Mara ecosystems is divided into the government owned Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR), and land owned by the Maasai.  The MMNR accounts for only about 25% of the Kenyan Portion of the Greater Mara/Serengeti Ecosystem and the remaining 75% was simply unprotected land inhabited by the nomadic Maasai community. Originally, their ownership was through Group Ranches, a process that conferred land rights on a community making them collectively responsible for managing and husbanding resources. In 2005, the government adopted a policy of privatizing the land North of the MMNR.

The real risk of land fragmentation and uncontrolled development led to the birth of the Mara  conservancies. The first of these was Ol Kinyei and the others have followed the model of partnerships between the Maasai landowners and tourism partners. They now protect areas that are larger is size than the MMNR and securing this land for conservation is pivotal as the MMNR itself is not large enough to host the world famous great migration. The harsh reality is that without the revenues that come from tourism the conservancies would not exist. A case in point is the Loita Plains that lie to the North East of the conservancies. Uncontrolled fencing, illegal logging, charcoal production and poaching has led to unprecedented loss of wildlife in this area and the Loita - Mara migration is no more.

The world over many such scenarios mean that responsible tourism is vitally important for conservation. Done well it leads to a win, win, win for wildlife, local communities and tourists.

But, what about the planet I hear you say.  There is no denying that aviation is responsible for its share of damaging carbon emissions. The International Energy Agency explains that in 2022 aviation accounted for 2% of global energy-related CO2 emissions and sustainable aviation fuels critical to decarbonising aviation are some way from having a real impact.

Notwithstanding this, many conservationists and also others concerned about climate change emphasise that, if we curtailed tourism that supports wilderness, too many of these areas would simply disappear and the impact on climate change would be vast.   UNEP explains “each year approximately 12 million hectares of forest are destroyed. This deforestation, together with agriculture and other land use changes, is responsible for roughly 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions.”

One of my contacts suggested that it would be better for people to take local holidays and support the conservation initiatives in destination countries by funding them directly. Of course that would be nice too, but the realities can be different.

• Just because people take their holidays locally does not mean that they are likely to also make a "substantial" donation to other relevant causes. When people were not travelling due to lockdowns there was no real effort to support the causes I am talking about and many of these habitats and the local communities really suffered from lack of funds
• Actually travelling to some of these destinations is in itself a useful way to engage and better understand challenges and opportunities
• Many of those who are very critical of aviation don't really consider the impact of their daily purchasing decisions and the carbon impact of air freight

Climate purists may argue differently, but as a pragmatist I know that people will do international travel and if they do then responsible tourism is the way to go. The reality is that people will travel on holiday and choosing to do so in a way that contributes to the conservation of wildlife and wild paces and also supports local communities is to me very important. There will, no doubt, be different views and perspectives but I for one will continue to advocate responsible tourism as a conservation tool.