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This paper addresses the perception of human-wildlife conflict from residents, located in the Old Oyo National Park (OONP), in the south-western part of Nigeria. Four communities living within and beyond the boundaries of the park were selected for this study, with questionnaires distributed amongst individuals within the communities. The results r...
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... commercial animals, caused by wildlife. Taking all these factors into account, this paper presents an evaluation of communities' perceptions (Alakuko, Kanga, Lukutu and Sepeteri: see map in Figure 1) concerning human-wildlife conflicts around the OONP in south-western Nigeria. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the demographic characteristics of community members in close proximity to OONP, (2) understand the type of interactions that escalates human-wildlife conflict(s), and (3) examine the perceptions of tolerance levels towards the human-wildlife conflict in the study area. ...
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Anthropogenic activities cause habitat loss for wildlife, thus increasing human-wildlife conflicts globally. This study focused on highlighting factors that need to be explored when assessing human-wildlife conflicts for managerial actions. To identify critical factors influencing co-existence between humans and wildlife and the role these factors...
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... Several authors have employed different methodologies to understand HWC (e.g. Acharya et al., 2017;Adedoyin et al., 2018;Akinsorotan et al., 2021;Carter & Linnell, 2016;Digun-Aweto & Van Der Merwe, 2019;Odunlami & Osumenya, 2020;Wester et al., 2019). However, a recent study showed that about 87% of HWC studies concentrated on the Asian countries (Sharma et al., 2021). ...
Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) has increased globally in recent years. This is true in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly, Nigeria, a country rich in biodiversity. This study examines the types, nature and causes of HWC in Nigeria using Okomu National Park (ONP) and its host communities as a case study. Data were obtained through questionnaire administration and focus group discussions (FGDs). Four rural communities within five kilometers radius of ONP were selected using a simple random approach. Using the systematic sampling technique to select households, 224 copies of a questionnaire were distributed in these host communities. Convenient sampling was utilized to identify park management who were participating in FGDs. A total of ten FGDs were held, with each session lasting twenty minutes and engaging at least five participants. Information collected were analyzed using frequency distribution, mean score and content analysis. Respondents ranked crop damage as the commonest HWC while wildlife poaching, human settlements expansions and agricultural extensions are perceived as the main reasons for HWC in the host communities. Results show that a number of the host communities’ responses to HWC are not in the best interest of biodiversity conservation, safety and environmental health. The study concludes that HWC is apparent in the study area and this is likely to worsen in the near future. This study is of the opinion that effusively enforcement of wildlife poaching penalties, compensation plan, community enlightenment, sustainable land-use planning, and park management technology will do much as preventive measures to HWC in the study area.
... The feelings of community members living around protected areas are important to consider as they can influence attitudes and behaviors that ultimately have conservation implications [12,13]. Perceptions of crop raiding may reduce tolerance for wildlife in communities around protected areas [14]. ...
... Perceptions of crop raiding may reduce tolerance for wildlife in communities around protected areas [14]. Besides perceptions of wildlife itself, conflicts between community members and park management can also augment perceived costs of crop raiding and HWC [12]. In some instances, this human-human conflict between community members and wildlife management officials may be conflated with HWC, skewing perceptions of wildlife [15,16]. ...
... Tea has proven to be an effective buffer crop to create a barrier for terrestrial primates [21]; however, due to drought and changes in local weather patterns, the communities did not successfully establish a tea buffer. There is currently no evidence that growing garlic prevents crop raiding, but it is an unpalatable (and harmless) crop that provides an alternative revenue flow [22], which is associated with increased tolerance towards HWC [12]. Further, garlic is traditionally grown and harvested in western Uganda [23], so it does not have an increased risk of becoming an invasive species, and its profitability is predicted to be more stable than other cash crops in Uganda, such as vanilla or moringa [24]. ...
The attitudes of community members living around protected areas are an important and often overlooked consideration for effective conservation strategies. Around Kibale National Park (KNP) in western Uganda, communities regularly face the threat of crop destruction from wildlife, including from a variety of endangered species, such as African elephants (Loxodonta africana), common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles), as well as other nonhuman primates, including olive baboons (Papio anubis). These frequent negative interactions with wildlife lead many community members to resent the park and the animals that live within it. To mitigate these issues, community members around KNP partnered with researchers to start a participatory action research project to reduce human-wildlife interactions. The project tested four sustainable human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies: digging and maintaining trenches around the park border, installing beehive fences in swampy areas where trenches could not be dug, planting tea as a buffer, and growing garlic as a cash crop. These physical exclusion methods and agriculture-based deterrents aimed to reduce crop destruction by wild animals and improve conditions for humans and wildlife alike. We conducted oral surveys with members of participating communities and a nonparticipating community that border KNP to determine the impact of these sustainable human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies on attitudes toward KNP, wildlife officials, and animal species in and around KNP. We found that there is a positive correlation between participation in the project and perceived benefits of living near KNP. We also found that respondents who participated in the project reported more positive feelings about the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the organization that oversees KNP. This research will help inform future conservation initiatives around KNP and other areas where humans and animals face conflict through crop damage.
... In places where humans and wildlife interact, conflicts can arise that result in negative consequences for both human communities and wildlife conservation (Digun-Aweto & Van Der Merwe, 2019;Horgan & Kudavidanage, 2020;Mekonen, 2020;Pooley et al., 2016;Siljander, Kuronen, Johansson, Munyao, & Pellikka, 2020). This dynamic creates one of the greatest threats to biodiversity conservation in and around protected areas. ...
... In the literature, there has been shift away from terms like "crop raiding" (e.g., Horgan & Kudavidanage, 2020) and "human-wildlife conflict" (e.g., Bhatia et al., 2019) towards using more neutral terms, and while it is important to continue critiquing our use of these terms and moving towards more appropriate terminology, we should not do so if it does not accurately convey the meaning of the words used by our respondents. Communities that do not solely rely on agriculture that is susceptible to being damaged by wildlife are more tolerant of human-wildlife interactions (Digun-Aweto & Van Der Merwe, 2019). Successful efforts at implementing alternative livelihood projects must incorporate investment in local institutions (Travers et al., 2019). ...
Abstract Negative interactions between humans and wildlife create one of the greatest threats to biodiversity conservation. When wild animals damage the crops in agricultural fields, subsistence farmers suffer food insecurity and economic instability. Animals can be killed or injured during these interactions, and communities may develop negative feelings about conservation. To address conservation concerns, projects should look at both sides of these interactions. A Participatory Action Research approach allows researchers and community members to work collaboratively to investigate and take action in response to this issue. Our team developed a community project to determine residents' perceptions of the benefits and costs of living around Kibale National Park, Uganda, and to implement changes to mitigate those costs. During our initial survey in 2015, we found that over 80% of our 114 respondents were subsistence farmers with no other source of income. All respondents felt that crop damage by wild animals was the biggest problem with living near the park, and they had negative feelings about the park and animals. Thus, we worked with project participants to establish the following land‐use changes throughout 2016 and 2017: (a) planting garlic as a cash crop, (b) planting tea as a buffer crop, (c) building beehive fences, and (d) maintaining a trench around the boundary of the park. Through monthly surveys, we assessed the success of these changes on reducing crop damage and improving conservation initiatives. Compliance with land‐use changes was significantly associated with a reduction in the events of crop damage, which has implications for economic stability and an individual's attitude about conservation. This project provides guidelines for using Participatory Action Research methods to develop sustainable interventions to improve human‐wildlife interactions.
Co-occurrence of humans and wildlife leads to interactions with potential positive or negative outcomes for the human actors and for the wild animals. It may also lead to positive or negative interactions between various human actors, who perceive the wildlife or wildlife conservation and management similarly or in different ways. The description of negative interactions as Human Wildlife Conflicts (HWC) is criticised as too imprecise, and a distinction to differentiate between wildlife “impacts”, from social “conflicts” has previously been suggested. In this review paper, most reviewed studies within HWC are identified as dealing with “impacts” (n = 156), while a smaller number of papers are focusing on the social conflicts (n = 45). Illustrated by this sample of HWC literature, the concept of HWC is disentangled based on the Human-Environment Interaction Model and Appraisal Theory of Emotion. The framework can provide a structure for understanding the HWC-situation where various actors relate to the wild animals or local activities as part of the physical environment, and other actors as part of the social environment, within the multiuse landscape in which they perform their activities. The discussion provides insight to the internal psychological process as the situation is appraised by the individual actor for the relevance and implications it has to individual goals. A framework for appraising the situation of others can facilitate understanding and empathy between actors, important for future co-existence and sustainable conservation of wildlife in multiuse landscapes.
The Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park area (TNRAW) is an administrative area of East Kolaka Regency and is in direct contact with the TNRAW area, so community activities to use TNRAW as business land cannot be stopped. This study aims to analyze potential TNRAW conflicts and provide direction for problem resolution. This study combined the survey method with a participatory approach with the community and TNRAW managers. The results showed several problems encountered in villages included in the TNRAW area, including encroachment and illegal logging, land sale and purchase, land certification, settlements within the area, plantations within the area, rice fields in the area, construction of facilities and infrastructure by the government, recognition of village administration in the area, allocation of village funds and waterlogging and overfishing. Community stakeholder actors have a negative influence or role in the TNRAW area. The role of the Southeast Sulawesi Provincial Public Works Office, Universities, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) as stakeholder actors is positive for both the community and TNRAW. Recommendations for problem resolution directives include: 1) increasing community participation through continuous empowerment and assistance so that adverse roles of TNRAW can be minimized, 2) increasing the role of stakeholders to coordinate with TNRAW, especially concerning land legality and community agricultural activities within the TNRAW Area, 3) solving various problems in TNRAW through mutually beneficial mechanisms between the community and TNRAW, The solutions offered must, of course, be following applicable laws and regulations.
In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policymakers work together with local communities without compromising the interests of wildlife and ecosystems. The vision requires decolonizing nonhuman species through marshaling ecocentric philosophy, animal sentience science, and, crucially, local communities' support. While the studies of community attitudes to wildlife are accumulating, in the context of human-wildlife conflicts, there is a shortage of data on attitudes to the Half-Earth vision in countries with growing human populations and rapidly declining biodiversity, such as Nigeria. This paper aims to address this gap by exploring community attitudes to the Half-Earth vision through a pilot study of Yalwan Bongo and Kafi, the local communities living around Yankari Game Reserve, Bauchi State in Nigeria. This paper is a review of the main issues surrounding Half-Earth, with a preliminary case study that addresses some of these issues. This case study found that community representatives stand open to dialogue with local conservationists based on the mutual benefit of wildlife protection. The surveyed villagers had a greater understanding of particular species than of contributing factors in biodiversity declines, such as growing human populations, climate change, and bushmeat hunting. Educational programs that we recommend are targeted at the empowerment of individual community members to speak against poaching, but also at the development of basic literacy, numeracy, and professional skills to counter poverty and promote family planning.
