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suggested by these management unit boundaries and incorporating representatives of local
pastoralists to the degree possible—would also function to negotiate with land users on
behalf of wildlife habitat. Such a proposed subsistence hunt would not occur within core
areas of nature reserves, but rather within areas used primarily for livestock production;
thus, wildlife could argue only for partial consideration. But given that benefits would
now be flowing to pastoralists and that many would wish them to continue indefinitely,
the way would now be open to begin discussing limitations on their land use in favor
of wildlife. Because the wildlife species I have mentioned as candidates for subsistence
hunts have tolerated pastoralism—at least at certain levels—for centuries, there is no
evident need for a black-and-white exclusion. But it does not follow that no conflicts at
all exist. If blue sheep are valued for subsistence use, it can be legitimately argued that
subsistence users be prohibited from grazing their livestock in or near the cliffy areas
blue sheep require. If Tibetan gazelles become an accepted supplement to the family diet,
that argues for families providing ways for gazelles to pass through the fences that are
increasingly transforming gazelle habitat into a chessboard-like grid. If a subsistence use
is found for Tibetan wild ass, that should—at the least—provide for greater tolerance
on the part of the pastoralist who sees some of his grasses eaten, and who might yet be
asked to make sacrifices for other, more sensitive species. Given time and success, such
a system might be later expanded to include other species.
Commercial Harvest
Thus far, the Faustian bargains I have suggested have still not come to terms with what
is arguably the thorniest problem of all in China: the widespread demand for wildlife not
merely for subsistence, but for all manner of other uses (including, notably, medicinal)
that require trade in wildlife parts. Most, albeit not all, of this demand emanates from
eastern China and goes beyond what my hypothesized local institutions would be suited
to deal with. Still, western China is, politically and administratively, part of China, and
would be expected to play its part in meeting this demand. Can a Devil's bargain, in which
wildness is prioritized in order to produce consumable wild products, also be struck when
wildlife is to be traded commercially?
Valerius Geist has been most outspoken and eloquent in his argument that the lack
of commercial markets has been the key to the success North Americans in the United
States and Canada have enjoyed in wildlife conservation since the early twentieth cen-
tury.
7
Indeed, prohibition in commerce of wildlife products has been elevated to a cardinal
principle in North American conservation systems, taken almost as an article of faith
by most wildlife practitioners in the West. In suggesting the possibility of commercial
harvest, I do not dispute the importance that prohibiting commerce has played within
the context of the North American conservation system. But it is less clear to me that
absence of a market is a mandatory requisite for
any
successful conservation system. To
find an example of successful conservation coexisting with a market, one need only look
to an exception within the North American system that Geist notes but does not analyze
in depth: the harvest and selling of furbearing species' pelts. If the mere presence of a
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