Managing Wildlife Damage to Agriculture in Bhutan: Conflicts, Costs and Compromise

Conflicts between wildlife and agricultural producers are a dominant problem in Bhutan, with policy debates focusing increasingly on whether most of the conservation costs are borne directly by the small producers and rural poor through crop losses and labor time diverted to guarding crops and livestock. This chapter attempts to quantify the extent of wildlife damage to crops and to livestock in Bhutan. While several important studies document in detail wildlife damage to agriculture in and near protected areas in Bhutan, this chapter aims to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the extent of the problem around the country, presenting the results of a survey of 526 households and outlining the extent of wildlife damage to their crops during a 12-month perio