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Building communities capacities to coexist with wildlife
In Assam, Northeast India, the Himalayan foothill forests provide essential habitat for the Asian elephant Elephas maximus. The natural vegetation in the region is moist deciduous forest, but this has mainly been transformed and now contains a mosaic of land uses and vegetation. These include rice cultivation, village settlements, commercial tea plantations and protected areas.
In 2004, a pilot project was established between Chester Zoo (then North of England Zoological Society), United Kingdom and EcoSystems – India, a regional non-governmental organization (NGO), to further learn about the conflict and determine the best way towards sustainable solutions with the impacted communities. This pilot phase became the catalyst for the Assam Haathi Project, which worked with local communities to understand the situation further and identify solutions for addressing the issue collaboratively. The project ran for 14 years, from 2004 to 2018, and conducted many activities to address the human-elephant conflict. This case study highlights a subset of activities that have been conducted by the Assam Haathi Project (hereafter “the project”).
Fostering coexistence through a poverty reduction approach
The Tarija region of southern Bolivia encompasses four ecosystems, including the critically endangered Inter-Andean dry forests. Much of the forest composition has changed as a result of intensive human intervention. Despite the severe fragmentation and habitat loss, the valleys are considered important centres for plant endemism, and it is home to the largest carnivores of South America, Andean bear Tremarctos ornatus, jaguar Panthera onca and puma Puma concolor. The area is prone to the effects of climate change with severe droughts
affecting agriculture, with up to 80 percent crop losses in 2015.
Following a regional assessment on the distribution of Andean bears in 2010, researchers received reports from local communities regarding Andean bears attacking and killing cattle in the Tarija region, with retaliation against the bears ensuing. Researchers were surprised by these reports as the presence of bears had not been documented in the area. However, in 2016, a camera trap study was initiated by Chester Zoo, Protección Medio Ambiente Tarija (PROMETA) and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and confirmed the presence of a reproductive population of Andean bears (mother and cub) in the region. These findings became the trigger to start the Andean Bears and People Project in 2018, a collaboration between Chester Zoo, PROMETA, WildCRU, Centro de Estudios Regionales de Tarija (CERDET), Instituto de Investigación y Capacitacion Campesina (IICA) and the Natural History Museum Alcides d’Orbigny.
Developing and evaluating a beehive fence deterrent through stakeholder involvement
The Elephants and Bees Project is part of Save the Elephants’ Human-Elephant Coexistence Programme, based in Sagalla, next to Tsavo East National Park in southern Kenya.
This case study highlights the process undertaken since 2001 to understand the effect honey bees had on elephants and to develop, evaluate and implement beehive fences at several sites in Kenya, from initial research-based studies on the effect of bees on elephants to the establishment of the Elephants and Bees Project.
Coexistence with large cats: Experience from a citizen science project
Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) is one of four parks in the world adjacent to a large metropolis, that occupies about 100 km2 with a minimum density of ~20 000 people/km2 and contains diverse wildlife such as chital Axis axis, sambhar Rusa unicolor, mugger crocodiles Crocodylus palustris, macaques Macaca mulatta and leopard Panthera pardus.
These incidents coincided with an increase in the number of leopards captured and translocated to the area. In 2011, discussions on addressing these issues were initiated with the authorities in the area.
Reducing human-carnivore conflict through participatory research
The presence of forested islands creates edge habitats for many wildlife species, such as jaguar Panthera onca, tapir Tapirus terrestris, capybara Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris, harpy eagle Harpia harpyja, to name a few. The human population density in the region is very low (0.4 people/km2), with communities consisting of predominantly indigenous Makushi and Wapichan people, with mixed populations including Guyana’s nine indigenous groups. The primary livelihoods in the region are subsistence fishing, farming and hunting.
The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme in Guyana (hereafter “the SWM Programme”) aims to ensure that “wildlife, ecosystems and their services are conserved and the living conditions, food security and cultural identity of rural villages are improved”. Under one component of the programme, local beneficiaries led by the Rupununi Livestock Producers Association (RLPA) had identified that
The programme established a body of work for reducing the human-carnivore conflict by conducting participatory research with the impacted communities facilitated in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation at the University of Florida and the Guyana Conservation Initiative at the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens. This case study highlights the initial steps taken to understand the situation further to help inform future management.
Co-developing a community camera trapping programme to deliver benefits of living with wildlife
The Rungwa-Ruaha landscape in United Republic of Tanzania at nearly 50 000 km2 is one of the most important wildlife areas in Africa and it supports one of the world’s largest remaining populations of lions Panthera leo and globally significant populations of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus, cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus, leopards Panthera pardus and spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta.
Lying adjacent to the southern border of the unfenced protected area is village land, forming an important habitat for large carnivores, especially in the wet season. The landscape is also an important movement corridor for pastoralists linking rangelands, which result in the region having very high rates of human-wildlife conflict. Research in the area found that over 98% of people reported problems with wildlife, with livestock depredation cited as the main concern.
Despite the initial data showing high levels of conflict, prior to 2009, there had been little targeted research on human-carnivore conflict drivers, dynamics and mitigation in the Ruaha landscape. To help fill this gap, and also to provide more information on large carnivore ecology in the area, the Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP) was founded in 2009. In 2020, RCP merged with work being done in Kenya and Zambia to form Lion Landscapes, one of the largest locally-based carnivore conservation organizations in the world.
Evaluation économique d'une zone humide : le cas du Diawling, Mauritanie
La présente étude porte sur lévaluation des principales valeurs économiques générées par la restauration du Parc national du Diawling en République islamique de Mauritanie, zone humide dimportance internationale, à travers une estimation des usages directs de la zone dinfluence du parc. Lobjectif était de contribuer des informations utiles aux décisions daménagement et de gestion durable du parc ainsi quà celles relatives au développement de la périphérie, soit du bas delta.
Lignes directrices pour de meilleures pratiques en matière de prévention et d'atténuation des conflits entre humains et grands singes
Un des défis auxquels la conservation des grands singes doit faire face est linteraction croissante entre les humains et les grands singes, et les conflits que cela génère. Il est impératif de développer une compréhension détaillée des situations de conflit actuelles et potentielles et leurs impacts présents et futurs à la fois sur les grands singes et les humains. Cela nécessitera lintégration de données qualitatives et quantitatives sur les aspects multiples des comportements des humains et des grands singes et de leur écologie. Il sagira également de bien comprendre comment les populations locales perçoivent cette situation. Une telle compréhension peut ensuite être utilisée pour développer des stratégies de gestion efficaces et adaptées localement pour prévenir ou diminuer les conflits entre humains et grands singes, tout en respectant à la fois les objectifs de la conservation et les contextes socio-économiques et culturels. Ces lignes directrices décrivent une séquence détapes logiques qui devraient être prises en compte avant toute intervention dans les conflits entre humains et grands singes ; elles proposent également des contre-mesures possibles à utiliser dans la gestion des conflits entre humains et grands singes.
Lignes directrices pour de meilleures pratiques en matière d'inventaire et de suivi des populations de grands singes
Les menaces conjuguées auxquelles font actuellement face les derniers grands singes appellent des mesures de conservation immédiates à tous les niveaux — des initiatives portant sur des sites particuliers aux conventions et plans d'action internationaux, en passant par les stratégies nationales et régionales. Le présent document décrit les approches actuelles en matière d'étude et de suivi des grands singes pour les biologistes de terrain, les administrateurs daires protégées, les services gouvernementaux responsables de la faune et la communauté de la conservation dans son ensemble. Il contient des informations supplémentaires précises sur la conception d'une étude, les méthodes de terrain, les approches analytiques et les considérations pratiques telles que la logistique, les finances et l'établissement de rapports normalisés.
The state of protected and conserved areas in Eastern and Southern Africa : second edition
This second edition of The state of protected and conserved areas in Eastern and Southern Africa builds on the first edition published in 2020 and provides updates on how the region is managing and governing protected and conserved areas, effectively providing a regional update on the progress towards the achievement of Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity framework. While the first edition was published in relation to the previous global targets (in particular Aichi Target 11), this edition covers progress on the common indicators around management effectiveness and governance and expands to include additional information that corresponds to the revised target on PCAs (Target 3).
