Beasts on Fields : Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Nature-Culture Borderlands

Human-wildlife conflicts are today an integral part of the rural development discourse. In this research, the main focus is on the spatial explanation which is not a very common approach in the reviewed literature. My research hypothesis is based on the assumption that human-wildlife conflicts occur when a wild animal crosses a perceived borderline between the nature and culture and enters into the realms of the other. The borderline between nature and culture marks a perceived division of spatial content in our senses of place. The animal subject that crosses this border becomes a subject out of place meaning that the animal is then spatially located in a space where it should not be or where it does not belong according to tradition, custom, rules, law, public opinion, prevailing discourse or some other criteria set by human beings. An appearance of a wild animal in a domesticated space brings an uncontrolled subject into that space where humans have previously commanded total control of all other natural elements. A wild animal out of place may also threaten the biosecurity of the place in question. I carried out a case study in the Liwale district in south-eastern Tanzania to test my hypothesis during June and July 2002. I also collected documents and carried out interviews in Dar es Salaam in 2003. I studied the human-wildlife conflicts in six rural villages, where a total of 183 persons participated in the village meetings. My research methods included semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, questionnaire survey and Q- methodology. The rural communities in the Liwale district have a long-history of co-existing with wildlife and they still have traditional knowledge of wildlife management and hunting. Wildlife conservation through the establishment of game reserves during the colonial era has escalated human-wildlife conflicts in the Liwale district. This study shows that the villagers perceive some wild animals differently in their images of the African countryside than the district and regional level civil servants do. From the small scale subsistence farmers point of views, wild animals continue to challenge the separation of the wild (the forests) and the domestics spaces (the cultivated fields) by moving across the perceived borders in search of food and shelter. As a result, the farmers may loose their crops, livestock or even their own lives in the confrontations of wild animals. Human-wildlife conflicts in the Liwale district are manifold and cannot be explained simply on the basis of attitudes or perceived images of landscapes. However, the spatial explanation of these conflicts provides us some more understanding of why human-wildlife conflicts are so widely found across the world.Ihmisten ja villieläinten väliset ristiriidat ovat olennainen osa maaseudun kehityksen diskurssia. Tutkimus pyrkii selittämään näitä ristiriitoja spatiaalisesti osana kulttuurin ja luonnon välistä rajankäyntiä. Ihmisten ja villieläinten välisten ristiriitojen tutkiminen spatiaalisesta näkökulmasta pyrkii lisäämään tämän vähän tutkitun lähestymistavan merkitystä ristiriitojen ratkaisemisessa. Tutkimushypoteesinani on olettamus siitä, että ihmisten ja villieläinten väliset ristiriidat saavat alkunsa, kun villieläin ylittää ihmisten mieltämän rajalinjan luonnon ja kulttuurin välillä ja siirtyy ihmisen kontrolloimalle alueelle. Ihmisten määrittämä luonnon ja kulttuurin välinen rajalinja jakaa kahden erilliseksi koetun tilan väliset spatiaaliset sisällöt ja niihin liitetyt merkitykset. Ihmiset kokevat villieläimen siirtyvän pois luonnollisesta ympäristöstään, kun se ylittää tämän rajalinjan. Villieläimen läsnäolo ihmisten hallitsemassa ja kontrolloimassa tilassa rikkoo siellä vallinneen perinteisiin, sääntöihin, lakiin, julkiseen mielipiteeseen, vallitsevaan diskurssiin tai muihin ihmisten määrittämiin kriteereihin perustuvan järjestyksen. Villieläin edustaa subjektia, johon ihmisellä ei ole täydellistä kontrollia. Ilmaantuessaan ihmisten muokkaamaan kulttuuriympäristöön, jossa pyrkimyksenä on hallita kaikkia luonnon elementtejä, villieläin voi aiheuttaa läsnäolollaan myös bioturvallisuusriskin. Toteutin tapaustutkimuksen Liwalen piirikunnassa kaakkois-Tansaniassa kesä-heinäkuussa 2002. Tämän lisäksi keräsin lähteitä ja tein haastatteluja Dar es Salaamissa vuonna 2003. Tutkin ihmisten ja villieläimien välisiä ristiriitoja kuudessa maaseutukylässä, joissa tutkimukseen osallistui yhteensä 183 henkilöä. Käyttämiäni tutkimusmetodeja olivat puolistrukturoidut haastattelut, osallistava kartoitus, lomakekysely ja Q-metodi. Liwalen piirikunnan kyläyhteisöt ovat pitkään asuneet rinnan villieläimien kanssa, jonka vuoksi heillä on runsaasti perinnetietoa villieläinhallinnasta ja metsästyksestä. Kolonialismin aikana käynnistyneet villieläinten suojeluhankkeet ja perustetut riistansuojelualueet vaikuttavat vielä nykyisinkin ihmisten ja villieläinten välisten ristiriitojen taustalla. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kyläläiset mieltävät joidenkin villieläinten läsnäolon osana afrikkalaisen maaseudun mielikuvaansa eri tavalla kuin piirikunta- ja aluetason virkamiehet. Pienviljelijöiden näkökulmasta villieläimet ylittävät alituisesti villin (metsät) ja kesytetyn (viljellyt pellot) tilan välisen rajan etsiessään ruokaa ja suojaa maatilojen alueelta, jolloin he menettävät osan sadostaan ja kotieläimistään villieläimille. Ihmisten ja villieläinten välisissä kohtaamisissa kuolee toisinaan myös ihmisiä. Ihmisten ja villieläinten väliset ristiriidat Liwalen piirikunnassa ovat varsin moniulotteisia eikä niitä voida selittää ainoastaan asenteiden tai maisemiin liittyvien mielikuvien pohjalta. Spatiaalinen näkökulma lisää kuitenkin ymmärrystämme ihmisten ja villieläinten välisten ristiriitojen syistä Tansaniassa ja muualla maailmassa

Spatially continuous dataset at local scale of Taita Hills in Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

Climate change is a global concern, requiring local scale spatially continuous dataset and modeling of meteorological variables. This dataset article provided the interpolated temperature, rainfall and relative humidity dataset at local scale along Taita Hills and Mount Kilimanjaro altitudinal gradients in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively. The temperature and relative humidity were recorded hourly using automatic onset THHOBO data loggers and rainfall was recorded daily using GENERALR wireless rain gauges. Thin plate spline (TPS) was used to interpolate, with the degree of data smoothing determined by minimizing the generalized cross validation. The dataset provide information on the status of the current climatic conditions along the two mountainous altitudinal gradients in Kenya and Tanzania. The dataset will, thus, enhance future research.Peer reviewe

Constraints for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Southeast Kenya

CONTEXT: Climate uncertainty challenges the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Awareness of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices and access to climate-smart technologies are key factors in determining the utilization of farm and land management practices that may simultaneously decrease greenhouse gas emissions, increase the adaptive capacity of farmers, and improve food security. OBJECTIVE: Understanding how biophysical and socio-economic constraints affect the adoption of CSA practices and technologies plays an essential role in policy and intervention planning. Our objective was to identify these constraints among smallholder farmers in Taita Taveta County of Southeast Kenya across varying agro-ecological zones. METHODS: We conducted a Climate-Smart Agriculture Rapid Appraisal that consisted of four mostly genderdisaggregated smallholder farmer workshops (102 participants), a household survey (65 participants), key informant interviews (16 informants), and four transect walks. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate a dissonance in the perceived awareness of CSA practices and utilization of CSA technologies between state actors and farmers. State actors emphasize lack of awareness as a barrier to adoption, while farmers express knowledgeability regarding environmental change and climate-smart practices but are confined by limitations and restrictions posed by e.g. market mechanisms, land tenure issues,and lack of resources. These restrictions include e.g. uncertainty in product prices, lack of land ownership, scarcity of arable land, and simply lack of capital or willingness to invest. Farmers are further challenged by the emergence of new pests and human-wildlife conflicts. Our research findings are based on the contextual settings of Taita Taveta County, but the results indicate that adopting CSA practices and utilizing technologies, especially in sub-Saharan regions that are heavily based on subsistence agriculture with heterogenous agro-ecological zones, require localized and gender-responsive solutions in policy formation and planning of both agricultural extension services and development interventions that take into account the agency of the farmers. SIGNIFICANCE: This study contributes to existing climate change adaptation research by increasing our un- derstanding of how physical and socio-economic constraints can affect the adoption of new farm and land management practices, and how CSA-based intervention strategies could be restructured by local stakeholders to be more inclusive.Peer reviewe

Assessment of human–elephant conflicts in multifunctional landscapes of Taita Taveta County, Kenya

People and wildlife have co-occurred, sharing resources for thousands of years, however, over the last four decades records of human–wildlife conflict have increasingly emerged. Human–elephant conflict is a form of such conflict, resulting from negative interactions between people and elephants. Human–elephant conflict affects local community livelihood and the success of elephant conservation. Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks, which cover about 60% of the Taita Taveta County land area, host the single largest elephant population in Kenya. We analysed human–elephant conflict incident data over 15 years (2004–2018) in Taita Taveta County, which forms part of the Tsavo ecosystem in south-eastern Kenya. We identified eight forms of human–elephant conflict comprising elephant threat, crop raiding, property damage, injury to people, human death, elephant death, elephant injury, and livestock death. Three forms of conflict accounted for 97% of the reported incidents, namely elephant threat to humans, constituting the highest number of incidents (62.46%), followed by crop raiding (32.46%) and property damage (2.33%). Conflicts occurred throughout the year, with June to July having the highest number of incidents. Rainfall, distance from the Tsavo national parks, and human population density were used as covariates to explain HEC patterns. This study seeks to provide a detailed evaluation of the spatial–temporal patterns of human–elephant conflict in Taita Taveta County and to yield information useful for human–elephant conflict mitigation and elephant conservation.Peer reviewe

Primates on the farm - spatial patterns of human-wildlife conflict in forest-agricultural landscape mosaic in Taita Hills, Kenya

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is a growing concern for local communities living in the vicinity of protected areas. These conflicts commonly take place as attack by wild animals and crop-raiding events, among other forms. We studied crop-raiding patterns by non-human primates in forest-agricultural landscape mosaic in the Taita Hills, southeast Kenya. The study applies both qualitative and quantitative methods. Semi-structured questionnaire was used in the primary data collection from the households, and statistical tests were performed. We used applied geospatial methods to reveal spatial patterns of crop-raiding by primates and preventive actions by farmers. The results indicate most of the farms experienced crop-raiding on a weekly basis. Blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) was the worst crop-raiding species and could be found in habitats covered by different land use/land cover types. Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and galagos crop-raided farms in areas with abundant tree canopy cover. Only few baboons (Papio cynocephalus) were reported to raid crops in the area. Results also show that the closer a farm is to the forest boundary and the less neighbouring farms there are between the farm and the forest, the more vulnerable it is for crop-raiding by blue monkeys, but not by any other studied primate species. The study could not show that a specific type of food crop in a farm or type of land use/land cover inside the wildlife corridor between the farmland and the forest boundary explain households' vulnerability to crop-raiding by primates. Preventive actions against crop-raiding by farmers where taken all around the studied area in various forms. Most of the studied households rely on subsistence farming as their main livelihood and therefore crop-raiding by primates is a serious threat to their food security in the area.Peer reviewe

Report From Surveys To Assess Harp And Hooded Seal Pup Production In The Greenland Sea Pack-Ice In 2022

Cruise no.: 2022703 : The 2022 survey of harp and hooded seal pup production in the Greenland Sea was carried out to obtain updated estimates to be used to assess current status of these two seal stocks. Since a similar survey in 2018 indicated a 40% reduction in harp seal pup production since the 2012 survey, and the continued lack of increase in pup production of the severely depleted hooded seal stock despite its protection from hunting since 2007, a new survey after a period of only 4 years was urgent. The survey was carried out using well established methodologies for these species, including 1) reconnaissance of the drift ice breeding habitat from a helicopter based on the research icebreaker R/V Kronprins Haakon and a fixed-wing aircraft stationed at Constable Pynt in East Greenland, 2) deploying GPS beacons around the identified breeding areas to monitor its displacement in the East Greenland Current, 3) carrying out staging surveys to monitor the pup age structure and estimate the optimal day of pup counting as well as correction factors accounting for pups not present on the ice at the time of counting, and 4) conducting aerial photographic surveys using the fixed-wing aircraft. Ice conditions in the Greenland Sea were similar as those experienced in 2018, with a relatively narrow band of pack ice over the shelf break near the coast of East Greenland. Seal whelping patches were initially discovered on March 21 & 22nd, within an area stretching from 72°53’N / 16°42’W in the north to 71°51’N / 17°30’W in the south. Five GPS beacons were deployed at the main whelping patches within this area, allowing us to track the continuous drift due to strong northerly winds during the period between initial reconnaissance and the final pup counting. Pup staging surveys were carried out on March 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 28th and 30th, providing us with a solid dataset with which to assess the development of pup age dynamics, determine the optimal day for photographic surveys, and to estimate correction factors to account for pups absent from the ice during the photographic surveys. The final photographic surveys were carried out on March 28th in a relatively narrow (20-30 nm) N/S band stretching from 71°00’N / 20°00’W in the NE to 69°34’N / 20°36’W in the SW. In total, 2,463 images were obtained during the aerial photographic survey, and following pre-processing (georeferencing and ortorectification), these will be analysed both manually and using dedicated machine learning systems, to determine the number of pups present in images. Results will be used to estimate the total 2022 pup production for each species and will also be combined with estimates from previous years to estimate the population sizes using the dedicated population dynamics model. The entire updated dataset will be made available to the upcoming ICES benchmarking meeting for harp and hooded seal population modelling, and results will finally be evaluated at the upcoming meeting of the ICES WGHARP working group in 2023.Report From Surveys To Assess Harp And Hooded Seal Pup Production In The Greenland Sea Pack-Ice In 2022publishedVersio

Report From Surveys To Assess Harp And Hooded Seal Pup Production In The Greenland Sea Pack-Ice In 2022

Source at https://www.hi.no/en/hi/nettrapporter/toktrapport-en-2022-7.Cruise no.: 2022703 : The 2022 survey of harp and hooded seal pup production in the Greenland Sea was carried out to obtain updated estimates to be used to assess current status of these two seal stocks. Since a similar survey in 2018 indicated a 40% reduction in harp seal pup production since the 2012 survey, and the continued lack of increase in pup production of the severely depleted hooded seal stock despite its protection from hunting since 2007, a new survey after a period of only 4 years was urgent. The survey was carried out using well established methodologies for these species, including 1) reconnaissance of the drift ice breeding habitat from a helicopter based on the research icebreaker R/V Kronprins Haakon and a fixed-wing aircraft stationed at Constable Pynt in East Greenland, 2) deploying GPS beacons around the identified breeding areas to monitor its displacement in the East Greenland Current, 3) carrying out staging surveys to monitor the pup age structure and estimate the optimal day of pup counting as well as correction factors accounting for pups not present on the ice at the time of counting, and 4) conducting aerial photographic surveys using the fixed-wing aircraft. Ice conditions in the Greenland Sea were similar as those experienced in 2018, with a relatively narrow band of pack ice over the shelf break near the coast of East Greenland. Seal whelping patches were initially discovered on March 21 & 22nd, within an area stretching from 72°53’N / 16°42’W in the north to 71°51’N / 17°30’W in the south. Five GPS beacons were deployed at the main whelping patches within this area, allowing us to track the continuous drift due to strong northerly winds during the period between initial reconnaissance and the final pup counting. Pup staging surveys were carried out on March 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 28th and 30th, providing us with a solid dataset with which to assess the development of pup age dynamics, determine the optimal day for photographic surveys, and to estimate correction factors to account for pups absent from the ice during the photographic surveys. The final photographic surveys were carried out on March 28th in a relatively narrow (20-30 nm) N/S band stretching from 71°00’N / 20°00’W in the NE to 69°34’N / 20°36’W in the SW. In total, 2,463 images were obtained during the aerial photographic survey, and following pre-processing (georeferencing and ortorectification), these will be analysed both manually and using dedicated machine learning systems, to determine the number of pups present in images. Results will be used to estimate the total 2022 pup production for each species and will also be combined with estimates from previous years to estimate the population sizes using the dedicated population dynamics model. The entire updated dataset will be made available to the upcoming ICES benchmarking meeting for harp and hooded seal population modelling, and results will finally be evaluated at the upcoming meeting of the ICES WGHARP working group in 2023

Temperature-dependent phenology of Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae): Simulation and visualization of current and future distributions along the Eastern Afromontane

There is a scarcity of laboratory and field-based results showing the movement of the diamondback moth (DBM) Plutella xylostella (L.) across a spatial scale. We studied the population growth of the diamondback moth (DBM) Plutella xylostella (L.) under six constant temperatures, to understand and predict population changes along altitudinal gradients and under climate change scenarios. Non-linear functions were fitted to continuously model DBM development, mortality, longevity and oviposition. We compiled the best-fitted functions for each life stage to yield a phenology model, which we stochastically simulated to estimate the life table parameters. Three temperature-dependent indices (establishment, generation and activity) were derived from a logistic population growth model and then coupled to collected current (2013) and downscaled temperature data from AFRICLIM (2055) for geospatial mapping. To measure and predict the impacts of temperature change on the pest's biology, we mapped the indices along the altitudinal gradients of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) and Taita Hills (Kenya) and assessed the differences between 2013 and 2055 climate scenarios. The optimal temperatures for development of DBM were 32.5, 33.5 and 33ÊC for eggs, larvae and pupae, respectively. Mortality rates increased due to extreme temperatures to 53.3, 70.0 and 52.4% for egg, larvae and pupae, respectively. The net reproduction rate reached a peak of 87.4 female offspring/female/generation at 20ÊC. Spatial simulations indicated that survival and establishment of DBM increased with a decrease in temperature, from low to high altitude. However, we observed a higher number of DBM generations at low altitude. The model predicted DBM population growth reduction in the low and medium altitudes by 2055. At higher altitude, it predicted an increase in the level of suitability for establishment with a decrease in the number of generations per year. If climate change occurs as per the selected scenario, DBM infestation may reduce in the selected region. The study highlights the need to validate these predictions with other interacting factors such as cropping practices, host plants and natural enemies.Peer reviewe