47 



AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION 



1717 M«§Mcfi.iet'J A.-em.* NW W«*hi-jion DC 30038 

 TV.unO'ie (202) 263-e3»4 F»d*m.le (202) 283-2361 



People and Wildlife Li Africa 



Testimony Prepared by: Diana E. McMeekin 



Executive Vice-President 

 African Wildlife Foundation 



Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Trade, and Environment 

 Subcommittee on Africa 

 Committee on Forvign Affairs 



November 9, 1993 



Before I t>egm, '. would like to thank Mr. Gejdaison and Mr. Johnston, chairmen of die 

 subcommuces, as well as Mr. Roth and Mr. Burton, ranking minority member:, of the 

 subcomm/.tees, for inviting me here to testify. Having Lived in Africa, or worked on African 

 issues from Washington, for more than twenty-five years, I appreciate the increased interest in 

 the Afna-Ji environment this hearing represents, and applaud the subcommittee's efforts. 



The African Wiidlife Foundation has worked in Africa Tor thirty-two yean. We have had 

 projects on the ground ir all regions of sub-Saharan Africa, though we currently specialize in 

 East Afr.i.a In particular, our major ongoing projects are in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, 

 ranzar.ia, *n6 e.-.stem T^jre. Since the late 1980's, the Foundation has been a leader in work 

 that we coin "community conservation": that is, taking a step beyond traditional, park-relaied 

 conscr-at on 10 work wiih communities surrounding natural areas, trying to smooth die 

 relationship between growing human -- and shrinking animal -- populations so dial Uiey co-exist, 

 to the greater benefit of 'x>th It is this specialty of our program portfolio that I want to address 

 today 



Before I do, I want to make it clear that AWF is a wildlife organization. Our projects -- and the 

 '. asi percentage uf our resources go directly into the fie'.d -- have as their goal the long-tern, 

 survival of ihr\ tened natural resources and ecosystems. Bui anytime you work for thirty years 

 in one place you get a feeling for the complexity of the environment. Both Africa's wildlife and 

 its people live in ihe same natural setting, and are connecied in vital ways. Therefore, '.hough 

 AWF rarely addresses issues like water quality, soil erosion, and the like, which seem to be 

 purely human related environmental problems, they are all born of the same parent-issues as 

 - Iltfe decline: poverty, immature institutions, and insufficient mechanisms to resolve 

 conflicts. We define environmental degradation to include all of ihese things. But it does lilile 

 good to ick ihe<c problems off. as if leasing them out of the tangle of environmental decline 



