The Crusader - Artikel aus Illustraded Life Rhodesia 1971

Ganzheitliches Management (nach Allan Savory)
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Manfred
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The Crusader - Artikel aus Illustraded Life Rhodesia 1971

Beitrag von Manfred »

Sarah Savory, Allans Tochter, hat einen alten Zeitschriften-Artikel über ihren Vater Ausgegraben und in diesem Beitrag veröffentlicht:


FB-Beitrag von Sarah Savory:
"A follow on to my post about the magazine article about my dad from 1971 (47 years ago) where he predicted the world’s grasslands would become “a barren desert incapable of supporting life.”
Unfortunately, nobody heeded his warning and nothing was done and his prediction is now becoming a terrifying and imminent reality and threatens, not just Zimbabwe and our beloved wildlife, but wildlife worldwide and humanity as a whole.

This interview was from before he had even developed holistic management.
I’ve typed out the whole original interview, for those of you that were interested, to read here:"
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Der angehängte Originaltext des damaligen Interviews:

"“There’s no point in fighting about who is going to run the country if the country isn’t worth having.”
EDWARD HABSBURG talks to ALLAN SAVORY

The Crusader

You either like Allan Savory, or you don’t. You can’t ignore him because, in the comfortable conformity of Rhodesian politics, the Rhodesian Front MP for Matobo stands out as a most vociferous and eloquent critic of Government policy.
Allan Savory is not a Robin James and he shares none of the average Rhodesian politician’s preoccupation with politics as a purely black and white issue. Yet, he puts as much into his cause as any white supremist or African nationalist.
His cause is of vital concern to all Rhodesians, black and white; his approach straight, hard-hitting and sometimes embarrassingly frank.
Allan Savory is concerned about the environment. He is concerned that in Rhodesia it is being destroyed. And he knows that if it is to be saved, action must be taken now - not 10 or 20 years from now.
His political priorities may seem strange in a country with as many immediate problems as Rhodesia, but, as he points out, there’s not a lot of point fighting about who is going to run the country when, unless the land is saved from destruction, the country won’t be worth having - for Europeans or Africans.
The 36 year old ecologist entered Parliament in 1968 with the express purpose of - in addition to saving his electorate - using it as a platform from which to spread his gospel.
Since then, he has upset the complacency of the House on a number of occasions with his well-researched facts and probing questions.
He has gone further than that. He has made scathing attacks on some civil service policies and on the Rhodesian public’s indifference to the appalling dangers which threaten their own environment.
His most recent attack has been on the Ministry of Land’s decision to turn the Matetsi area near the Victoria Falls into what he glibly calls “the greatest wildlife area in the world.”
So incensed was he at the Government’s plans that he cut short a business trip to South West Africa to return to Salisbury to drum up support to have the plan re-examined.
“I was shocked to hear that the Government plans to take over privately owned land only to lease it back for essentially the same purpose as it is used now.” he says. “It is a principle one associates with a totalitarian state and I will certainly do everything I can to get the Government to change its mind.”
He accuses the Minister of Lands, Senator Philip Van Heerden, of doing a complete “about face” over the Mattes as the Minister had said, when the report was tabled in Parliament, that the Government did not intend taking over areas of privately owned land.
He also attacks the Mattes committee for being biased and points out that it was made up of civil servants from the chairman down who, although charged with finding the use which would benefit the country most, had not even considered private enterprise.
Admittedly, Allan Savory has a vested interested in the Mattes - he has a 37,000 acre game ranch right in the middle of the land the government wants to expropriate.
But he bought these acres for the specific purpose of launching a non-profit-making research station which would train young Rhodesians to Ph.D level and provide some of the best facilities in the world for the study of wildlife.
“Several of the world’s top conservationists have agreed to serve on the board of trustees of the proposed foundation. At no time has such a distinguished group of ecologists come together in Africa,” he explains.
“But if the expropriation takes place, you can forget it. They intend using the land for hunting instead of training young Rhodesians.”
The Mattes is but one of many clashes Allan Savory has had with Government; he’s certainly not a new boy when it comes to “stirring” on conservation and ecological issues.
"The Matetsi,” he says “is a very good example of why we need an ecological council in this country to override sectional interests and to really get down to planning conservation to nationalise both safari and wildlife land in the Mattes is completely contrary to the recommendations made by the Wildlife Commission of Inquiry under Professor G Petrides.”
Plans for an Ecological Council similar to that recently formed in the US were recently presented to Parliament by Savory. They received a good reception from most M.P.s.
This council, he says, could provide Rhodesia’s salvation. It would be an objective body of the best available men overviewing the policies and plans of both Government and private sectors.
In addition he wants to see slight alterations made to the structures of certain ministries. For example, all organic resource management would be placed under a Ministry of Water Resources and inorganic resources under a Ministry of Mines. A Ministry of Engineering would be formed to handle physical water management.
“Without these reforms, conservation will continue to be Ministry ping-pong in a high wind. No one will be in control of the game.”
Most Rhodesians accept that Tribal Trust Lands are in a bad condition and getting worse. What they don’t often accept is that the problem doesn’t stop there. It extends to European land, national parks and even tsetse fly country.
If you analyse what Savory is saying the whole situation in Rhodesia becomes frightening. It means that while Rhodesia’s population is increasing at the rate of 3.6 percent a year, the ability to house, feed and clothe these people is actually decreasing because of the destruction of the land.
It’s stretching our resources at both ends. On the one hand an expanding population increases pressure on the land; on the other, this pressure reduces the ability of the land to support the increase.
"So in effect, it is pointless to talk about population control in isolation. Stabilising the population isn’t going to do very much if you don’t stabilise the land at the same time.”
His figures show that Rhodesia’s land is in a 15 times worse condition than that in the US - where the situation is said to be critical.
That is frightening enough, but when you consider that the US has a relatively stable industrialised population and Rhodesia a rapidly expanding agrarian population, the spectres of starvation and a de-nuded countryside become a reality.
Allan Savory’s interest in the land and in wildlife can really be traced back to his school days at Plumtree.
“Being at a school right out in the bush sparked my interest in the outdoors and I soon decided that I wanted to spend my life working for, and on, the land.”
After leaving Plumtree he went to Natal University to study natural sciences with the view of joining the Department of Wildlife.
But after he qualified he couldn’t get a job in Rhodesia because the department did not employ professional people. So he joined the British Colonial Office and worked for the Parks Department of the Northern Rhodesian Government.
In 1960 the Rhodesian staffing policy was changed and he returned to spend six years as a Government Ecologist. In 1966 he decided he could do more for conservation outside the civil service and set himself up as a private consultant.
Two years later, concluding that political action was the only way to punch home ecological facts, he entered Parliament at the RF member for the country constituency of Matobo.
Up until that stage “ecology” and “conservation” were little-used words in the Rhodesian Parliament. They were even more sparingly used by the general public.
“Now people not only know what the words mean but are taking an interest in the environment. They are conscious of things that 10 years ago would have been dismissed as “too scientific.”
Much of the credit for this new awareness of the dangers of destroying the environment must go to Allan Savory. How does he see his role as the Parliament’s top land expert?
“I don’t really expect to be able to solve the problem because really there’s no ultimate solution. It will keep on changing in dimension along with our ability to cope with it. What I really want to do is reverse the destructive trend.
Reversing the trend presents no real physical problems. Where the difficulty lies is convincing people of the need for a change of approach and, secondly, in getting the right people on the ecological council.”
Allan Savory has no affection for committees like the Matetsi one which, composed entirely of civil servants, often make an unbalanced assessment and reach a biased conclusion.
“A council of civil servants selected for their seniority and not their knowledge would be a complete waste of time. It is absolutely essential to get the best possible people - regardless of their age or political views.”
While the council’s role would be advisory and not administrative, it would have to have sufficient stature to cut across traditional departmental taboos. It would have to have direct access to the Cabinet and the Prime Minister.
Its purpose would be that of over-viewing the activities of the different ministries so that their work did not clash ecologically.
“At the moment, in acting independently of each other, ministries often make ecologically unsound decisions and the policy of one ministry may inadvertently cut across intentions of another.
But with an ecological council, nothing would be done piecemeal. We could think in broad terms, create the ‘grand design’ plan for the future rather than only for the immediate present.”
One of Savory’s strongest aversions - and here he meets with a lot of opposition because his argument is often misunderstood - is towards irrigation schemes.
Irrigation is talked of as Rhodesia’s saviour but according to Savory many of the schemes are simply political palliatives.
“The money could, at this stage of our development, be much better spent on stabilising catchment areas. Even the US cannot afford irrigation schemes at the cost per acre that Rhodesia is spending. So in economic terms Rhodesia’s future doesn’t lie in costly irrigation works.
I can’t find any historical cases where irrigation has stabilised land and prevented the collapse of civilisations.
In parts of Syria where the rainfall averages about 20 inches a year - the same as Matebeleland - groups of cities and their big irrigation systems stand in deserts of sand. The same types of ruins can be found in Mesopotamia, Babylon and Egypt.
Couldn’t the same thing happen in Matebeleland if the present methods of land management are continued?” he says.
Allan Savory doesn’t get much time for recreational activities - which is probably just as well considering the time he already spends away from his wife and 3 children.
When he’s not running around the bush in civilian clothes, he’s probably there instructing troops in the arts of tracking and anti-guerilla warfare. He’s a captain in the territorials and commands the Tracker Combat Unit.
In between his parliamentary duties and his army work he fits in his ecological practice and runs his Victoria Falls ranch.
As an ecological consultant he’s in pretty heavy demand. His system of land management has been adopted by more than 150 of the country’s farmers along with Government extension services and three other African countries.
He maintains, and others vouch for him, that its adoption doubles carrying capacity, halts land deterioration and saves money being spent on projects which are expensive and have little change of success.
He can point to many examples where land which previously carried one beast every 10 acres is now carrying a beast every 5.
His method, known as short duration grazing or the Savory System involves short periods of grazing interspersed with rests.
It’s a pretty full life, but then Allan Savory wouldn’t have it any other way. “I live for land conservation. It’s my profession, my religion and my hobby. Ask my wife - she only sees me two days a month!’
Allan Savory has brought a bit of science into Rhodesian politics and in doing so has proved that harmony doesn’t mean mindless acquiescence. And nobody can say that it wasn’t time that both science and a little bit of spirited opposition stirred the conformity of the Rhodesian political and conservation scene.
After all, we all depend on the land one way or another for our livelihood. And if we don’t preserve it, then the collapse of our society may be the end result.
Allan Savory"


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