As a young graduate employed in various Southern African national parks in the 1960's, Allan realised that the land and wildlife he was working with was doomed.
Later, when working in the USA he came to realise that this deterioration of the African environment was not a result of the often-quoted reasons of overpopulation, poverty, overstocking, lack of technology, poor extension services etc. Comparable deterioration was occurring in Western Texas, USA, where the climate was similar to that of Southern Africa. However, western Texas had a declining population, the latest technology, sophisticated extension services etc.
The only common denominator between these two situations was the decisions the human managers of these environments had made. Mankind has been very successful in the area of technology, but, when it comes to making decisions that are environmentally and socially sound, our failures outweigh our successes.
Allan noted this. He studied wild animals in different habitats and read the works of Jan Smuts, Andre Voisin and others. Allan realised that hooved animals play a critical role in the health of arid environments. He recognised that nature functions in wholes and that we need to change the way we make decisions.
All this led to the development of the Holistic Management decision-making framework, as we know it today, which is being used by thousands of individuals, families, businesses and other organisations to improve the quality of lives and to regenerate the resource base that sustains us. This includes many conservation projects worldwide, where large areas of land are being transformed into sustainable ecosystems.
