Balancing African Elephant Conservation with Human Well-Being in Rombo Area, Tanzania

Research Article published by Hindawi Advances in EcologyThe critical assessment of the nature and extent of human-elephant conflict (HEC) and its impact on conservation efforts are essential if we are to meet the challenges related to extinction of local population, as well as loss biodiversity. Conservationists need detailed information on HEC in areas where these challenges prevail to improve intervention in the face of limited funds/resources. We assessed the status of HEC at Rombo area over the last six years. Data based on household surveys, focus group discussions, spatiotemporal analysis of site observations, and reported incidents of damage within the last six years were mapped. Out of all HEC cases analyzed, the most were crop damage which took place at night and the damage was severe between May and July, when cereal crops were mature. In upland areas of Rombo, HEC hotspots were observed inside the protected forest plantation where local people cultivated their annual crops. Cold spots concentrated in upland areas outside the protected forest plantation dominated by settlement and agroforestry less preferred by elephants. In lowland areas,HEChotspotswere observed in village lands close to the PAs, within settlement and farmland dominated by seasonal crops. This suggests that HEC management efforts such as establishment of buffer zones should be directed around the areas adjacent to PAs and prevention should focus on cultivation of the alternative crops and farming systems that are less preferred by elephants. Our study highlights the importance of using a combination of data collection techniques to pinpoint fine-scale HEC hotspots in a highly conflict-prone location of Tanzania

Human-elephant interactions: exploring conflicts and drivers in enduimet wildlife management area, Tanzania

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s in Life Sciences of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyA globally rapid land use/land cover change in human-transformed landscapes alters the interface of human-wildlife interactions due to shifting socio-ecological and environmental pressures. Understanding these shifts is crucial for mitigating repeated negative interactions that escalate conflict states between people and wildlife. This study aimed to understand land use/land cover change changes between1989–2019, with more recent spatio-temporal patterns of high pressure at the human-elephant interface, and potentially underlying environmental and human driven factors that affect elephant movement patterns. The study analyzed a dataset of 923 human-elephant conflict occurrences, mainly crop foraging incidents in the Enduimet between the years 2016 and 2020 and combined these data with land use/land cover change for year 2019 to understand potential drivers of conflict. Furthermore, GPS datasets of elephants collared between 2019 to 2020 used to understand elephant movement patterns in changing land use types. Landsat image study revealed that 41% of the area had been converted into farmlands and settlements within the last three decades, which creates elephant-intolerant habitats and the potential to increase pressure at the human elephant interface. The collared elephants using Enduimet moved through all land use types and did not avoid settlements, although they moved through these at higher speeds, reflecting perception of risk. Elephants travelled slightly more slowly in farmland, likely reflecting the availability of foraging opportunities. Conclusively, communities in land use/land cover change urgently need support to increase the effective distance between their farming activities and the protected areas