The announcement by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) that it was increasing the price of tracking permits for its mountain gorillas has attracted the expected backlash.

Tour operators are concerned that it may result in diminished revenues across the tourism value chain while RDB argues that the new tariffs are necessary for conservation of the endangered primate.

Despite their merits, both arguments miss an important point. Looked at in percentage terms, the new tariffs are most drastic for Rwandans who must come to terms with a 4,000 per cent increase against a 100 per cent increase for foreign tourists.

That raises serious questions about social equity and whether the custodians of this national heritage are not taking an elitist view. From time immemorial, natural resources such as forests and hunting grounds in Africa, had been a communal resource.

That was until our encounter with colonialism turned them into a state controlled resource, criminalising communal access and largely alienating surrounding communities that no longer felt they had a stake in their conservation.

Moves toward controlled access are justified by the consideration that what belongs to all, ultimately belongs to none and is near impossible to manage or conserve.

This view is borne out by the rapid disappearance of communal woodlots or grazing lands as populations surged over the past half a century.

Over the past two decades, conservation managers have come up with a variety of tools to address the issue of social equity. One such approach has been revenue sharing plans to compensate local communities for lost or controlled access. RDB can argue that with the higher tariffs, local communities will earn more money from their share of park revenues.

The new tariffs however go beyond that because besides the money, they place the resource completely out of reach of local communities. That will bring back conflict between local people who will learn about mountain gorillas from hearsay rather than actual experience and conservation authorities.

The strained relationship is likely to break down the partnerships that have been painstakingly built over the years with an increase in poaching now becoming a real possibility.

The fee hikes might have been justifiable if it was demonstrated that higher human traffic was exerting pressure on the eco-system hence the need to control it.

In the absence of a justification beyond the need for more money, a likely scenario is that foreign tourists will continue to come but a good portion of the resulting revenues will be bled on increased enforcement.