Assessing impacts of human-elephant conflict on human wellbeing: An empirical analysis of communities living with elephants around Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

Funder: Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003343Funder: Wildlife Conservation Society; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100005997Human-elephant conflict is an often intractable problem that threatens the contribution of conservation interventions to human wellbeing and securing livelihoods in Africa and Asia. Local human populations living in key elephant ranges are among the world's most poor and vulnerable people. In efforts to address this problem, previous studies have mainly focused on the direct impacts of conflict and applied standard regression models based on the assumption of individual-level homogeneity. More recently, human-elephant conflict has been seen to extend well beyond the physical, to the psychological and social sides of wellbeing. However, the impacts on human wellbeing have not been robustly explored, especially for local communities co-existing with elephants. We evaluated the impacts of conflicts on the wellbeing of local communities around the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. We conducted 18 focus group discussions with 120 community members in different locations and administered a questionnaire survey to 367 sampled households from 26 sub-locations in Trans Mara. We used descriptive statistics with appropriate statistical tests, including propensity score matching, to evaluate the impacts of conflict on human wellbeing. Before matching, the results of the descriptive statistics showed differences between households experiencing conflicts and those without in terms of gender, age, education level, household size, benefiting from elephant conservation, main occupation and number of income sources. Our matching results indicate the existence of a significant negative and positive impacts on four and one of our eight wellbeing indicators for households that experienced conflicts, respectively. Better conflict mitigation approaches and conservation policies need to be adopted to realize the harmonious and concurrent development of ecological and wellbeing objectives

Measuring the conservation attitudes of local communities towards the African elephant Loxodonta africana, a flagship species in the Mara ecosystem.

Gaining insights into local people's views, values and preferences for different conservation management options are increasingly gaining importance among conservationists and decision-makers. This can be achieved through the assessment and understanding of conservation attitudes and perceptions of rural communities including demographic characteristics predicting the attitudes to design and implement conservation policies in a more socially acceptable manner. In this study, we developed and validated user-friendly indices to measure attitudes towards the African elephant, a flagship species and its conservation in Trans Mara District. An iterative item reliability analysis was executed on household data from a random sample of 367 respondents using Cronbach's Alpha in SPSS. Results yielded two indices; (i) Elephant Attitude Index (EAI); and (ii) Maasai Mara National Reserve Attitude Index (MAI). The EAI had a Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of 0.73 while the MAI had a Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of 0.77. Data analysis revealed that (i) location of residence; (ii) age of respondent; (iii) number of income sources; (iv) gender of the respondent; and (v) benefit reception were the main determinants of EAI and MAI in TM. Our attitude indices can assist conservation practitioners and decision-makers to prioritise resources, on the assumption that high-scoring individuals are more likely to participate in conservation initiatives. We encourage making available different sources of income for residents and working towards improving the involvement of younger people and women in conservation activities in TM

Villain or scapegoat? Elephants and academic achievement of pupils and schools in Trans Mara District, Kenya

Abstract: Improving human capital through quality education remains a global and national priority, particularly for developing countries. Academic performance is the standard indicator of a successful acquisition of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes for improving human capital. However, recent data, particularly in wildlife areas shows that pupils often perform poorly on academic tests in low‐income countries. This study aims to determine the impact of elephants on academic performance in Trans Mara District, Kenya. We use data from 137 schools and 749 pupils who wrote the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education between 2010 and 2014, and 15 key informants. We used descriptive statistics to analyze and interpret our data. Results show that locating a school outside the elephant range positively contributed to higher mean scores compared to ethnicity, pupil–teacher ratio and gender. Whereas day facilities only strongly contributed to lower scores compared to examination entry, age of the pupil, and ethnicity. The study places elephants on both ends of the villain‐scapegoat continuum since their presence alone does not make a major contribution to poor academic performance in the Trans Mara District. We recommend providing cheaper and accessible transport to pupils, expanding both day and boarding facilities, establishing additional schools closer to pupils within elephant range to reduce the distances to school. These initiatives must be linked to the conservation of elephants as a suit of direct incentives for coexisting with elephants

Community Attitudes Toward Wildlife and Protected Areas in Ethiopia

Across Africa, national policies that established protected areas (PAs) typically limited local use of wildlife and other resources. Over time, these policies have raised tensions with rural communities and today threaten to undermine conservation goals. This article examines community–PA relationships at four important sites in Ethiopia—a country of rich tradition with an unusual colonial past. Using focus groups and household surveys, we found that despite local tensions, most respondents held positive views toward wildlife and nearby PAs. Factors influencing positive views included receiving PA benefits, good relations with PA staff, higher education levels, being older, having a large family, diversified income sources, owning fewer livestock, and fewer incidents of wildlife conflicts. In contrast, the devolved control of PAs from federal to regional levels has not influenced community–PA relations as intended. Our results suggest that relations could be improved through involving communities in co-management arrangements, honoring resource tenure and use rights, providing benefits, and implementing conservation education programs

What factors best explain attitudes to snow leopards in the Nepal Himalayas?

The snow leopard Panthera uncia is a vulnerable wild felid native to mountainous regions of 12 Asian countries. It faces numerous overlapping threats, including killings by herders retaliating against livestock losses, the illegal wildlife trade, loss of prey and habitat, infrastructure, energy and mining developments, and climate change. The species ranges over large territories that often lie outside of protected areas (PA), so coexistence with human populations across its range is key to its persistence. Human attitudes to snow leopards may be an important factor to consider in reducing overlapping threats to this species. However, this nexus has not been widely studied to date. Attitudes to snow leopard conservation, including actors and interventions, may also be a significant aspect of coexistence. These have also received limited empirical attention. This study therefore explored human attitudes to snow leopards and to snow leopard conservation, the motivations for these attitudes and the individual factors that best explained them. Using systematic sampling, a quantitative questionnaire was administered to 705 households at two sites in the Nepal Himalayas: Sagarmatha National Park, with a less decentralised governance model, and Annapurna Conservation Area, with a more decentralised model. Linear regression models were the main form of analysis. Based on these, attitudes to snow leopard conservation emerged as the strongest influence on local attitudes to snow leopards, and vice versa. This was true in both PAs, despite their differing management regimes. Other important explanatory factors included numbers of livestock owned, years of education, household livelihoods and age. Furthermore, a positive intrinsic motivation was the most common reason given by respondents to explain their attitudes to both snow leopards and snow leopard conservation. These findings demonstrate that, in addition to the usual suite of factors that influence attitudes to a species, the way in which its conservation is pursued and perceived also needs consideration. How the snow leopard is conserved may strongly influence its coexistence with local communities

Identification of policies for a sustainable legal trade in rhinoceros horn based on population projection and socioeconomic models

Between 1990 and 2007, 15 southern white (Ceratotherium simum simum) and black (Diceros bicornis) rhinoceroses on average were killed illegally every year in South Africa. Since 2007 illegal killing of southern white rhinoceros for their horn has escalated to >950 individuals/year in 2013. We conducted an ecological-economic analysis to determine whether a legal trade in southern white rhinoceros horn could facilitate rhinoceros protection. Generalized linear models were used to examine the socioeconomic drivers of poaching, based on data collected from 1990 to 2013, and to project the total number of rhinoceroses likely to be illegally killed from 2014 to 2023. Rhinoceros population dynamics were then modeled under 8 different policy scenarios that could be implemented to control poaching. We also estimated the economic costs and benefits of each scenario under enhanced enforcement only and a legal trade in rhinoceros horn and used a decision support framework to rank the scenarios with the objective of maintaining the rhinoceros population above its current size while generating profit for local stakeholders. The southern white rhinoceros population was predicted to go extinct in the wild <20 years under present management. The optimal scenario to maintain the rhinoceros population above its current size was to provide a medium increase in antipoaching effort and to increase the monetary fine on conviction. Without legalizing the trade, implementing such a scenario would require covering costs equal to approximately $147,000,000/year. With a legal trade in rhinoceros horn, the conservation enterprise could potentially make a profit of$717,000,000/year. We believe the 35-year-old ban on rhinoceros horn products should not be lifted unless the money generated from trade is reinvested in improved protection of the rhinoceros population. Because current protection efforts seem to be failing, it is time to evaluate, discuss, and test alternatives to the present policy.Peer reviewe

Sustainability and Long Term-Tenure: Lion Trophy Hunting in Tanzania

It is argued that trophy hunting of large, charismatic mammal species can have considerable conservation benefits but only if undertaken sustainably. Social-ecological theory suggests such sustainability only results from developing governance systems that balance financial and biological requirements. Here we use lion (Panthera leo) trophy hunting data from Tanzania to investigate how resource ownership patterns influence hunting revenue and offtake levels. Tanzania contains up to half of the global population of free-ranging lions and is also the main location for lion trophy hunting in Africa. However, there are concerns that current hunting levels are unsustainable. The lion hunting industry in Tanzania is run by the private sector, although the government leases each hunting block to companies, enforces hunting regulation, and allocates them a species-specific annual quota per block. The length of these leases varies and theories surrounding property rights and tenure suggest hunting levels would be less sustainable in blocks experiencing a high turnover of short-term leases. We explored this issue using lion data collected from 1996 to 2008 in the Selous Game Reserve (SGR), the most important trophy hunting destination in Tanzania. We found that blocks in SGR with the highest lion hunting offtake were also those that experienced the steepest declines in trophy offtake. In addition, we found this high hunting offtake and the resultant offtake decline tended to be in blocks under short-term tenure. In contrast, lion hunting levels in blocks under long-term tenure matched more closely the recommended sustainable offtake of 0.92 lions per 1000 km2. However, annual financial returns were higher from blocks under short-term tenure, providing $133 per km2 of government revenue as compared to$62 per km2 from long-term tenure blocks. Our results provide evidence for the importance of property rights in conservation, and support calls for an overhaul of the system in Tanzania by developing competitive market-based approaches for block allocation based on long-term tenure of ten years

Global priorities for national carnivore conservation under land use change

Peer reviewe

Changing seasonal, temporal and spatial crop-raiding trends over 15 years in a human-elephant conflict hotspot

Human-wildlife conflict is increasing due to rapid natural vegetation loss and fragmentation. We investigated seasonal, temporal and spatial trends of elephant crop-raiding in the Trans Mara, Kenya during 2014–2015 and compared our results with a previous study from 1999 to 2000. Our results show extensive changes in crop-raiding patterns. There was a 49% increase in incidents between 1999 -2000 and 2014–2015 but an 83% decline in the amount of damage per farm. Crop-raiding went from highly seasonal during 1999–2000 to year-round during 2014–2015, with crops being damaged at all growth stages. Additionally, we identified a new elephant group type involved in crop-raiding, comprising of mixed groups. Spatial patterns of crop-raiding also changed, with more incidents during 2014–2015 neighbouring the protected area, especially by bull groups. Crop-raiding intensity during 2014–15 increased with farmland area until a threshold of 0.4 km2 within a 1 km2 grid square, and farms within 1 km from the forest boundary, 2 km from village centres were most at risk of crop-raiding. In the last 20 years the Mara Ecosystem has been impacted by climate change, agricultural expansion and increased cattle grazing within protected areas. Elephants seem to have responded by crop-raiding closer to refuges, more frequently and throughout the year but cause less damage overall. While this means the direct economic impact has dropped, more farmers must spend more time protecting their fields, further reducing support for conservation in communities who currently receive few benefits from living with wildlife

Tolerating tigers: Gaining local and spiritual perspectives on human-tiger interactions in Sumatra through rural community interviews

Religious beliefs and spiritual connections to biodiversity have the potential to reduce animosity towards wildlife that might otherwise present a real or perceived threat to local people. Understanding this social dynamic can therefore be important for formulating locally-appropriate species-specific conservation strategies. Using semi-structured interviews which incorporated human-tiger conflict scenarios, we investigated how beliefs towards tigers varied between ethnic groups living around a large protected area that is home to the largest tiger population in Sumatra. We gathered this information to determine the degree to which cultural tolerance may contribute to the survival of the tiger in the Kerinci Seblat landscape, Indonesia. From 154 interviewees, 133 respondents came from three main ethnic groups, Minangkabau, Kerincinese and Melayu. The majority (73.5%) of Minangkabau interviewees cited that their ethnic group had customary laws regarding tigers, as did 52% of Melayu and 44% of Kerincinese. Irrespective of ethnicity, most participants did not perceive there to be a connection between Islam and tigers. All participants acknowledged the existence of zoological tigers and two groups (Minangkabau and Kerincinese) held a strong common belief that different types of spirit tigers also existed. From presenting different human-tiger conflict scenarios, with varying levels of severity towards livestock or human life, an unprovoked tiger attack in the village elicited the most calls for the tiger to be killed. Yet, if a village or family member was killed by a tiger whilst hunting in the forest then most respondents across all ethnic groups said to do nothing. The frequency of this response increased if a tiger killed someone in the village who had committed adultery, reflecting beliefs associated with the role of the tiger as an enforcer of moral rule. Our study highlights the importance of consulting with local communities who live in close proximity to large and potentially dangerous carnivores when developing conflict mitigation strategies, which hitherto has not been the case in Sumatra