Can Conservation and Profits Co-Exist?: The Case of Lion Hunting

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Characteristics and Distribution of Live-Stock Losses Caused by Wild Carnivores in Maasai Steppe of Northern Tanzania

Agricultural development accelerates the loss of habitat for many wildlife species and brings humans and animals in close proximity, resulting in increased human–wildlife conflict. In Africa, such conflicts contribute to carnivore population declines in the form of human retaliation for livestock depredation. However, little knowledge exists about when and where carnivores attack livestock. Given this need, our objectives were to (1) understand the spatial and temporal variation of human–carnivore conflict and (2) identify conflict-prone areas. We addressed these objectives in 18 Tanzanian villages of the Maasai Steppe using livestock depredation data on lions (Panthera leo), spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) and leopards (Panthera pardus) from 2004 to 2007. Over the 4-year period, 1,042 carnivore attacks occurred on livestock, with \u3e50% due to hyenas; shoats (goats and sheep) were the most commonly depredated livestock. Livestock depredation was unevenly distributed across villages. About 39% of all recorded attacks occurred in Selela, followed by Emboreet (16%), and Loiborsoit (11%), while Esilalei, Oltukai, and Engaruka all had \u3e5% of all attacks. Villages wit

Fostering Coexistence Between People and Large Carnivores in Africa: Using a Theory of Change to Identify Pathways to Impact and Their Underlying Assumptions

Coexistence with large carnivores poses challenges to human well-being, livelihoods, development, resource management, and policy. Even where people and carnivores have historically coexisted, traditional patterns of behavior toward large carnivores may be disrupted by wider processes of economic, social, political, and climate change. Conservation interventions have typically focused on changing behaviors of those living alongside large carnivores to promote sustainable practices. While these interventions remain important, their success is inextricably linked to broader socio-political contexts, including natural resource governance and equitable distribution of conservation-linked costs and benefits. In this context we propose a Theory of Change to identify logical pathways of action through which coexistence with large carnivores can be enhanced. We focus on Africa’s dryland landscapes, known for their diverse guild of large carnivores that remain relatively widespread across the continent. We review the literature to understand coexistence and its challenges; explain our Theory of Change, including expected outcomes and pathways to impact; and discuss how our model could be implemented and operationalized. Our analysis draws on the experience of coauthors, who are scientists and practitioners, and on literature from conservation, political ecology, and anthropology to explore the challenges, local realities, and place-based conditions under which expected outcomes succeed or fail. Three pathways to impact were identified: (a) putting in place good governance harmonized across geographic scales; (b) addressing coexistence at the landscape level; and (c) reducing costsand increasing benefits of sharing a landscape with large carnivores. Coordinated conservation across the extensive, and potentially transboundary, landscapes needed by large carnivores requires harmonization of top-down approaches with bottom-up community-based conservation. We propose adaptive co-management approaches combined with processes for active community engagement and informed consent as useful dynamic mechanisms for navigating through this contested space, while enabling adaptation to climate change. Success depends on strengthening underlying enabling conditions, including governance, capacity, local empowerment, effective monitoring, and sustainable financial support. Implementing the Theory of Change requires ongoing monitoring and evaluation to inform adaptation and build confidence in the model. Overall, the model provides a flexible and practical framework that can be adapted to dynamic local socio-ecological contexts. large carnivore conservation, African semi-arid, community-based conservation, human wildlife conflict, community-based natural resource management, adaptive co-management, rangeland management, climate change adaptationpublishedVersio

Retaliatory killing negatively affects African lion (Panthera leo) male coalitions in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem, Tanzania

This research article was published in the PLOS ONE in 2023In landscapes where people and lions coexist, conflicts are common due to livestock preda- tion and threats to human safety. Retaliatory lion killing by humans is often a consequence and is one of the leading causes of lion population declines across Africa. We assessed the effects of retaliatory lion killing on male lion coalitions in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem (TME) using a long-term dataset of lion monitoring for ten lion prides, spanning over a four- teen year-period from 2004–2018. We also interviewed 214 respondents about their atti- tudes and awareness of the effects of retaliatory killing on lions. We found that male lion coalitions were larger and lasted for a longer tenure period in locations with low risk of retal- iatory killing, as well as far away from active hunting blocks. Further, young people (18–35 years old) had a more positive attitude towards lion existence and conservation compared to older age classes. Surprisingly, people with primary or secondary level of education were more likely to having lions killed if they attack livestock compared to people with no formal education, although the former supported lion presence for tourism in protected areas. We conclude that retaliatory killing has a large effect on long-term lion coalition dynamics and, thus, survival. Community awareness on retaliation effect varies widely, and we recommend implementing better education and policy strategies at TME to protect the declining carni- vore populations

Editorial : how prides of lion researchers are evolving to be interdisciplinary

Lions (Panthera leo) are one of the most charismatic, enigmatic, and polarizing species on the planet (Macdonald et al., 2015; Albert et al., 2018; Courchamp et al., 2018). Human connections to lions, as functional members of ecological communities and as icons of strength and courage, are truly cross-cultural (Schaller, 1972). Lion symbology, for instance, appears around the world, even in geographic locations outside of the species range (McCall, 1973). The images of lions adorn currency, jewelry, art, clothing, corporate logos and masonry, among others, where they are used and traded on a daily basis (Evans, 1896; Olupona, 1993; Mwangi, 2002). People experience strong emotions when in the company of lions whether that be at zoos, from the relative safety of a safari vehicle, or while grazing livestock on open rangelands in Africa or India (Hemson et al., 2009; Goldman et al., 2010; Meena et al., 2014). Lions clearly command reverence and yet, as humans, we have grown acutely accustomed to conflict with this species. Fears relating to insecurity and loss of livestock motivate swift and aggressive retaliatory responses to lions (Patterson et al., 2004; Dickman, 2010; Millspaugh et al., 2015). Thus, lions seem capable of captivating and scaring humans in equal measure. Perhaps not surprisingly then, here in the twenty-first century, lions are a species of immense conservation concern and one that has defied numerous efforts toward population restoration outside of inviolate protected areas. Lions have experienced precipitous and unabated population declines over the last 100 years causing the conservation community to periodically downgrade the species conservation status (Bauer et al., 2015; Riggio et al., 2015). The conservation of lions therefore presents a thorny challenge. In their contributing paper to this special issue, Montgomery et al. identify that human-lion conflict is a highly complex issue involving not only the two implied domains (i.e., humans and lions), but also characteristics of livestock and human culture, factors associated with wild prey populations, and abiotic conditions in the environment. This paper articulates that the issue of human-lion conflict is one that is clearly multifaceted and multidimensional. Several calls among the scientific community have demonstrated the utility of evaluating complex problems with research teams that are multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and, hopefully at some point, transdisciplinary (White and Ward, 2010; Rylance, 2015). Thus, the objective of this special issue is to highlight the ways in which research teams assessing human-lion conflict and those assessing lion ecology,more broadly, have been, and are evolving to be, interdisciplinary. This special issue features 11 papers exploring these topics across the range of lions from West Africa to East Africa and from South Africa to the Greater Gir Landscape of India.http://www.frontiersin.org/Ecology_and_Evolutionam2020Centre for Wildlife Managemen

Identified variables for determining the effect of retaliatory killing on male coalition and lion population in TME from environmental, behavioral and socio-economic variables respectively in the year 2019.

Identified variables for determining the effect of retaliatory killing on male coalition and lion population in TME from environmental, behavioral and socio-economic variables respectively in the year 2019.</p

Effect of retaliation on tenure period.

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Summary of the basic statistic of the tenure period.

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Wildlife movements and landscape connectivity in the Tarangire ecosystem

A fundamental condition for maintaining viable populations of wildlife is to ensure that animals can access resources. In landscapes where the boundaries of protected areas encompass only a fraction of annual home ranges, animal movement is often curtailed by human activities, often with negative population consequences. In the Tarangire Ecosystem (TE), wildlife generally aggregates in three main protected areas during the dry season (Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks, and Manyara Ranch Conservancy) and disperses to several other areas during the wet season. Connectivity between and within seasonal ranges in the ecosystem has generally become more restricted over time, though the apparent effects of these changes have been species-specific. Historical accounts of wildlife movement suggest that animals once moved over much larger areas than they do currently. In this chapter, we review historical information on wildlife movement and distributions in the TE and synthesize data on population genetic structure and individual movements from studies of elephants, giraffes, lions and wildebeests conducted over the past 25 years. Given the continued expansion of agricultural and urban areas, there is a need to coordinate efforts across land management agencies and local governments to ensure that wildlife can continue to move across the landscape