I was speaking to a well-respected Zambian wildlife police officer (ranger) working in Kafue National Park in Zambia to find out more about the poaching situation in the park. After he had outlined the problems they were having, I asked if poaching continued throughout the year and in all areas of the park. He said there was no poaching on the western edge of the park in July and August. This was the time of the tobacco harvest, which created a lot of local employment, removing the need and the time to poach. Although not a perfect example of a business solution to CIWT – some of the tobacco farms were encroaching on the game management areas and there was no link between the tobacco companies and conservation – that example, especially the ranger's remark that they had neither the need nor the time to poach has remained with me.

The central argument of this chapter is that generating revenue from diversified business models associated with conservation at the tactical level is the lynchpin for success in CIWT (we shall examine the strategic level in Chapter 6 on demand reduction). The more revenue that protected areas can generate, the stronger the justification for conservation and the more success is likely to be achieved: “if it pays it stays”. That increased revenue creates powerful economic interests for protection over exploitation, flipping the economic equation on its head as conservation becomes a profitable activity instead of a cost, and more money can be generated from conservation than illegal exploitation.

I believe that the most effective business models are those that offer protection, income and employment for protected areas and the communities living around them. Protection comes in the form of physical barriers to entry for potential poachers, the security provided by the businesses themselves, and the deterrent effect of strong economic interests tied to conservation. Income relates to how much revenue can be generated by businesses associated with conservation, both to make the economic case that protection can compete and win on commercial terms over exploitation, and to provide finance for the other elements of SWIPRO through revenue shares to organizations delivering CIWT activity. Employment directly addresses the poacher's equation by removing the need to poach and winning the support of local communities.