- Conservationists are championing wildlife corridors as a way to save migratory or roaming species.
- The corridors have proved beneficial for large animals such as elephants.
- Wild dogs, which require extensive range, can also benefit from the corridors.
There might not be a quick fix for dwindling numbers of endangered species, but giving them space to roam could come close.
This is the belief of conservationists who are championing the concept of wildlife corridors.
These corridors function as "highways" for wild animals, helping them to access food, rivers and land they need, while reducing their conflict with humans.
Wildlife have been following migration paths for centuries, but human developments have placed roadblocks along the way, in many cases creating impenetrable barriers.
Dr Katharina von Dürckheim, founder of Wildlife Free to Roam and a research fellow at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Conservation Ecology, said that today's wildlife lives in a world where their habitats are quickly shrinking.
"Development, resource extraction, and roadbuilding have fragmented landscapes and reduced wild spaces, making it harder for wildlife to find food, search for mates and adapt to climate change. To help address these problems, conservationists work on creating wildlife corridors - areas of natural habitat that can reconnect fragmented habitats," she said.
South Africa is in partnership with two other countries to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP). The GLTP links the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique; Kruger National Park in South Africa; Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe; the Sengwe communal land in Zimbabwe; and the Makuleke region in South Africa.
Together, the GLTP forms a wildlife corridor and conservation area of 35 000km².
Wildlife corridors go beyond merely linking national parks. They take into account animal movement, needs and natural formations like rivers.
Very often, studying animal behaviour will identify areas Von Dürckheim refers to as "stepping stones" – areas that fall outside of a conservancy or national park, but which are still used by animals – and this can help conservations identify which areas need to be protected.
The concept is heavily backed by science, but they need political partnerships to be effective – especially when the corridors cross national borders.
This is where global agreements like COP15 and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals come into play, said Von Dürckheim. The agreements are increasingly recognising the importance of the connectivity of ecosystems.
She said:
"Partnerships - the theme of World Wildlife Day 2023 - are absolutely critical here as some corridors connect not only national parks within one country but national parks across countries. Awareness of the importance of connectivity, the inclusion of corridors in policy and legislation, and creating a shared vision for corridors among implementing stakeholders like governments, private landowners, NGOs, and communities is critical."
Dr Michelle Henley, co-founder and principal researcher at Elephants Alive, said that wildlife corridors are especially beneficial for elephants.
"Elephants have very large spatial needs, and when bulls come into musth, they instinctively wander far afield to avoid inbreeding. They often need space to avoid local conflict with other musth bulls," she said.
"Isolated populations cut off through human development could become genetically impoverished. For instance, populations that have lost phenotypic features such as large tusks through historical persecution would need the free flow of genes from populations that still have large tusks to maintain large tusks as a feature."
'Eventually, you’re going to lose the species'
Henley said that more than half of all elephants live outside of protected areas, and three-quarters are spread across more than one international boundary.
She added:
"Elephants are trailblazers. Their movements and needs for wild space also imply the protection of many other species that will share a less developed corridor or landscape with them."
Wildlife corridors are critical for increasing biodiversity, said Henley, especially because some natural cycles "work best at large scales and across diverse landscapes".
"As African nations that believe in the philosophy of Ubuntu, we should realise that we are because of the collected wisdom of many elements. Elephants represent an important element. They have become the symbols of freedom and cooperation across borders, which allows them their space."
While elephants, in particular, need wildlife corridors to roam, the wild spaces have also been shown to benefit other migratory, specialist and wide-ranging species – from jaguars to wild dogs, and from vultures to butterflies.
Environmental Wildlife Trust (EWT) carnivore conservation programme manager Derek van der Merwe said that wildlife corridors also benefit carnivores, such as big cats and wild dogs.
Due to human population growth, wild areas are becoming more and more fragmented, he said. This can have a significant impact on gene pools, as a population of 1 000 individuals is the minimum needed to ensure that animals evolve.
"If there are no genes coming in, there's just going to be inbreeding, and eventually, you're going to lose the species," Van der Merwe said.
Van der Merwe added:
He said that in South Africa, there were not many corridors left, which is why conservationists were so invested in maximising the potential of game reserves. But this did not mean that wildlife corridors couldn't be created in future, he said.
'Fencing mentality'
One example is a wildlife corridor in the making in the Soutpansberg mountains of Limpopo, thanks to a partnership between EWT and various donors and landowners. The vision is ultimately a corridor that would effectively link the mountain area with the Kruger National Park on the one end, and with the Tuli Block in Botswana on the other.
This corridor could be a game changer for local leopard populations, which at one stage had shown a 60% population decline.
To see wildlife corridors created, South Africans will have to let go of what Van der Merwe calls their "fencing mentality".
He said:
Wildlife corridors are not simply a way for migratory species to roam, but they are also tools to protect the vegetation and rivers within them. They have the power to minimise flooding and its impact, capture carbon, buffer extreme temperatures, and improve water and soil health, said Von Dürckheim.
Wildlife corridors also have the potential to protect agricultural areas that neighbour them by providing seed dispersal and a habitat for pollinators, as well as mitigate against pests, improve agricultural resilience to climate change and provide eco-tourism opportunities, she added.
Von Dürckheim said there was still much to learn about exactly where our wildlife corridors are and what animals use them, as well as the implications for the surrounding communities.
She said:
Failing to protect wildlife corridors could come with a high cost – overpopulated national parks that lose biodiversity, animal gene pools shrinking, and even the extinction of vulnerable species.
"We really are at risk of losing important areas and critically endangered species," she said.