Conservationists, hunters and farmers: The European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus management conflict in the Iberian Peninsula

Biodiversity conflicts arise when the interests of different stakeholders over common resources compete. Typically, the more parties involved, the more complex situations become. Resolution of biodiversity conflicts requires an understanding of the ecological, social and economic factors involved, in other words the interests and priorities of each stakeholder. However, in most biodiversity conflicts, many of these components remain poorly understood. As a case study, we analyse the conflict involving conservationists, hunters and farmers in the management of a native lagomorph, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, in the Iberian Peninsula. We review the socio-economic context of the rabbit management conflict, investigating the roles of the main stakeholders involved in the conflict and evaluating the ecological, economic and social factors that motivate it. We provide management directions for the short-term amelioration of the conflict and discuss some long-term perspectives. Overall, the interests of conservationists, hunters and farmers depend on the specific scenario where the conflict takes place. A deeper understanding of the human dimensions of the conflict will help in the design of an appropriate management model to solve this biodiversity conflict in the Iberian Peninsula.M. Delibes-Mateos currently holds a JAE-doc contract (Programa Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios) funded by CSIC and the European Social Fund (ESF); I. Barrio holds a postdoctoral fellowship provided by the Consejería de Educación, Ciencia y Cultura (JCCM, Spain) and ESF; and C. Ferreira holds a postdoctoral fellowship (Ref. SFRH/BPD/88643/2012) funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of the Ministério da Educação e Ciência, Portuguese government. R. Villafuerte was partially financed by Project 201230E0060 (CSIC). The manuscript was improved after useful discussions with colleagues during a stay of M. Delibes-Mateos at Landcare Research (New Zealand) with financial support from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain).Peer Reviewe