Hunting as Sustainable Use

The North American model of wildlife conservation is arguably one of the most successful programs of sustainable resource use ever devised. At the time the first of these two stories was written, it had been virtually ignored by the world leaders and private and public organizations alike. However, the challenge of how to maintain human economies and traditions while continuing to  utilize the world's natural gifts has been a focus of international agencies for decades.

In the follow-up article, the author describes how the international focus changed significantly in the early 2000s. At the World Conservation Union meeting in Amman, Jordan, October 2000, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) adopted a policy statement on what has become known as the "sustainable use" approach, now accepted as the guiding philosophy for protecting the biological diversity of the world, endorsed by virtually every important conservation organization.