The mechanisms referred to most frequently in previous publications were first, economic incentives for private landowners to tolerate predators despite livestock losses; and second, logistic support for reintroduction programs, including monitoring. Less frequently mentioned mechanisms included: establishment of private or communal reserves; conservation management of public land on concessions; creation of corridors linking sub-populations, e.g. by removing fences; translocations to improve genetic diversity; and funding for anti-poaching patrols. The principal approaches adopted at the sites audited in person, however, were first, protection of habitat through establishment of concessions, conservation leases and private reserves; second, active anti-poaching measures such as patrols, snare buyback schemes, and monitoring and surveillance; and third, various translocation, semi-captive breeding, and field veterinary services.
For livestock compensation programs, key components include: payment at accurate market value for individual animals, assessed locally by an unbiased process; rapid payment, once a right to compensation is determined; and reductions in payments from contributory negligence through poor livestock management, such as failing to bring individual animals into a guarded boma (stockade) at night. For anti-poaching patrols, technological support such as the use of surveillance drones and night vision goggles is increasingly widespread. Good relations with local communities whose members can rapidly report any incursions, however, also remains critical. Equally significant is the legal basis under which anti-poaching personnel operate: for example, whether they are empowered to pursue suspected poachers outside their own boundaries, whether they have the authority to make arrests, and when they are permitted to use firearms. For translocation programs, live-capture, veterinary, transport and soft-release techniques have evolved greatly over recent years, with a corps of practical knowledge and experience adapted for different species, leading to successful translocations across international borders with no losses.
The measures adopted depend on the scale and structure of the tourism operations involved. Larger businesses, sometimes in cooperation or partnership, devote more resources to cross-border approaches. Smaller operators necessarily focus their efforts at local scale. Conservancies and concessions managed by tourism companies, trusts and NGO’s have converted tens of thousands of square kilometres to conservation, and manage those areas actively to protect threatened species, including big cats. Acting together, they have expanded the scope of public protected areas, removed fences between adjacent reserves, and created corridors to link subpopulations.