State of the Wild 2006: Reflecting Back, Looking Ahead

If the glossy-covered paperback edition of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s newest literary release: State of the Wild 2006: A Global Portrait of Wildlife, Wildlands, and Oceans, published by Island Press, feels surprisingly dense in your hands, it’s not a product of the book’s 100% recycled paper. Instead, the book takes its heft from its eight-part analysis of the world’s shrinking wildlife populations, trammeled earth, and increasingly murky waters. While this new series’ first entry deals gravely with its subject matter, it also brings together some of the world’s most renowned conservationists and writers—including WCS’s Drs. George Schaller, Alan Rabinowitz, Liz Bennett, Robert Cook, and Billy Karesh—who plainly believe in the power of environmental resurgence through innovative, science-based solutions.

The 2006 edition devotes a section to exploring the impacts of hunting and the trade in wildlife around the globe. In a world where many people depend on harvesting wild species for their livelihoods, the combined effects of a burgeoning human population and growing international wildlife markets have been devastating for wildlife and the environment. Reducing hunting to sustainable levels and controlling the wildlife trade, while providing alternate means of income and fulfilling the protein needs of the developing world is a challenge to reconcile. State of the Wild addresses this challenge through a dialogue of responsive essays written by several of the book’s contributors. The result is a breadth of perspectives on potential solutions to how humans can become better stewards of the wild.

The answers that State of the Wild posits to conserving wildlife and wildlands in a developing world rely on the conceit that, as George Schaller eloquently states in the book’s introductory chapter, “We all live under the same sun. It is everyone’s task, each in his or her own way, to assume the role of preserver with clarity of purpose, passion, and perseverance.” In the 21st century, international NGOs and global corporations, grassroots conservationists and local governments, legislators and citizens have all become universal stakeholders in the health of our planet. 

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