Wednesday, April 13, 2016

A truly Ackoffian mess - the rhino poaching dilemma

For some time now I have been tracking the rhino and, to a lesser extent, the elephant poaching issue in southern Africa.  My interest arose when I encountered these animals first hand in Kruger National Park and worked with colleagues at SAN Parks over a period of years. There have been several recent books which are insightful - Julian Rademeyer's 'Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Horn Trade' (Cape Town, Zebra Press) and John Hanks' 'Operation Lock and the War on Rhino Poaching' (Penguin, South Africa). With Duan Biggs I have almost finished writing a review essay based on the latter.

For an easier way to begin to appreciate why these issues typify a 'super' Ackoffian mess then listen to 'The Horn of a Dilemma' an excellent (in my view) Discovery program on the BBC World Service.

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