Our Wild World

Conservation Economics 101: How do we preserve the African pastoralist lifestyle and cultural heritage, while also securing the landscape and the predators who live within it? In 2003, my guest Tom Hill and his colleague Richard Bonham, co-Founder of BigLife Foundation, created the Predator Compensation Fund, an innovation in wildlife conservation strategy that has proven highly successful at saving the great predators of the region– especially lions, reversing their otherwise imminent extinction in the very cradle of their existence. In 2012, Tom helped to conceive, fund, and administer the first-ever Maasai Olympics, a sports alternative to lion hunting for Maasai warriors of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem. Incorporating Western business concepts modified to fit the needs of modern pastoralists is a model for the future. When everyone has a stake in the outcome or consequences, working together is the only way forward.