World Wildlife Day: Engagement with stakeholders is crucial for achieving human-wildlife coexistence

Rome - FAO and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force have launched a new series of case studies documenting how human-wildlife conflict and coexistence can be managed successfully.

Human-wildlife conflict occurs when human and wildlife populations overlap, leading to direct negative encounters that can cause serious injury or death. These situations are becoming more frequent, serious and widespread, driven by population growth, agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, climate change and other drivers of habitat loss. 

“Human-wildlife conflict creates a serious threat to food security, conservation and human health, and hinders progress towards achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Kristina Rodina, FAO Forestry Officer, overseeing the work on wildlife and protected areas.

The three case studies launched today showcase successful projects that engaged effectively with stakeholders to manage human-willife conflicts involving large carnivores, including lions in Tanzania, leopards in India and – with FAO involvement through the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme – jaguars in Guyana.

Delivering benefits of living with wildlife

One case study focuses on communities near Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park – the second largest national park in Africa. Lion Landscapes (formerly the Ruaha Carnivore Project) has been working in the area since 2009, trying to gain a better understanding of the impacts between people and wildlife, and working with the communities to reduce depredation of livestock caused by carnivores.

The project had successfully reduced the costs of living with wildlife and reduced livestock depredation through several schemes such as the provision of livestock enclosures (bomas) and developing a guardian programme. However, the project realised that these measures were not enough and that the communities also needed to receive benefits from the presence of wildlife.

In 2015, a community camera trapping programme was initiated where the villagers themselves monitored wildlife presence. Crucially, the programme was co-owned by the communities in the area, and they were fully engaged in designing it and implementing it.

To make the scheme attractive, the project introduced a point system for the capturing of images of wildlife on the village land, with higher scores assigned to rarer species. A lion, for example, was given a value of 15,000 points, while a more common Kirk’s dikdik antelope only 1,000 points.

Each quarter, villages competed against each other to see which one could generate the most points. The village with the most points received around USD 2 000 worth of community benefits, such as healthcare, veterinary medicine and education, as decided by each village. The villages that came second and third received USD 1 500 and USD 1 000 respectively.

The Tanzania case study, which helped reduce impacts between large carnivores and humans, highlights how developing programmes with the impacted stakeholders is a crucial component to their success, as it creates ownership, ensures representation, and adaption to local specifics.

Stakeholder engagement and genuine collaboration when trying to manage a human-wildlife conflict situation was shown to be an essential ingredient also in the other two case studies, involving leopards in India and jaguars in Guyana.

The three case studies launched today and seven more case studies on human-wildlife conflict and coexistence will be used to illustrate key components of the forthcoming IUCN SSC Guidelines on Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence.