scholarly journals When Human–Wildlife Conflict Turns Deadly: Comparing the Situational Factors That Drive Retaliatory Leopard Killings in South Africa

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3281
Author(s):  
Julie S. Viollaz ◽  
Sara T. Thompson ◽  
Gohar A. Petrossian

Retaliatory killings caused by human-wildlife conflict have a significant impact on the survival of leopards. This study explores the reasons for retaliatory killings of leopards by interviewing community members in a small village in South Africa that experienced high incidences of human–leopard conflict. The semi-structured interviews focused on the reasons why retaliatory leopard killings occurred and how to best mitigate the situational factors that triggered these killings. Respondents cited four main problems that fueled these killings: the government’s response to human–leopard conflict was slow and unwilling; this response involved inefficient methods; there were inadequate resources to respond to these killings; and there was a clear lack of laws or their application. Local stakeholders provided a range of innovative strategies to reduce human-leopard conflict and retaliatory killings. While all parties expressed different reasons why these solutions were or were not effective, their conclusions were often similar. The distrust that existed between the parties prevented them from recognizing or accepting their common ground. Based on existing human–wildlife conflict mitigation techniques and solutions identified by local stakeholders, this article explores how criminological techniques, including situational crime prevention, can help identify and frame effective interventions to reduce the number of illegal leopard killings driven by human-wildlife conflict.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Vance Martin ◽  
Kathleen Epstein ◽  
Robert M. Anderson ◽  
Susan Charnley

In resource management, new terms are frequently introduced, reflecting ongoing evolution in the theory and practice of ecology and governance. Yet understandings of what new concepts mean, for whom, and what they imply for management on the ground can vary widely. Coexistence—a prominent concept within the literature and practices around human-wildlife conflict and predator management—is one such term: widely invoked and yet poorly defined. While for some coexistence is the latest paradigm in improving human-wildlife relations, the concept remains debated and indeed even hotly contested by others—particularly on the multiple-use public lands of the American West, where gray wolf conservation, livestock production, and the claims of diverse stakeholders share space.The multiple meanings of coexistence present serious challenges for conservation practice, as what the concept implies or requires can be contested by those most central to its implementation. In this study we examine wolf-livestock management—a classic case of human-wildlife conflict—by focusing on the experiences and perspectives of U.S. Forest Service (USFS) managers. We reviewed coexistence's multivalence in the literature, complementing semi-structured interviews conducted with USFS employees on case study forests from across the western states. Through this, we highlight the complexity and multi-dimensionality of the concept, and the unique yet under-explored perspective that resource managers bring to these debates.This work draws on insights from political ecology to emphasize the situatedness of manager practice—taking place within a broader set of relations and contextual pressures—while extending political ecologists' traditional focus on the resource user to a concern with the resource manager as a key actor in environmental conflicts. Through our engagement with the experiences and perceptions of USFS managers, who must balance conservation aims with long-established land uses like livestock grazing, we hope to clarify the various dimensions of coexistence. Our hope is that this work thus increases the possibility for empathy and collaboration among managers and stakeholders engaged in this complex socio-ecological challenge.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 146-157
Author(s):  
TSI Evaristus ANGWAFO ◽  
NKENGAFAC Michael BENAZIA ◽  
MVO Denis CHUO

This study entitled “implications of human-wildlife conflict on local livelihood in the Kimbi-Fungom National Park” was undertaken to assess impacts of Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) in the Park so as to provide basis to design a sustainable wildlife conservation roadmap. Data collection was done using questionnaires, semi structured interviews and direct observations. Collected data were treated using excel and statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 14). Findings revealed that, 98% of the population experience human-wildlife conflicts that negatively impacted local livelihood, with cumulative average financial losses amounting to 1, 97,890 FCFA/year/acre (0.40ha) for the six common staple food crops, and an average cumulative surface area damage of 4.75 acres/year (0.19ha). It was revealed that great proximity to the Park edge bear the highest cost of the conflict. Though losses varied with different crop and distance from the Park, this was attributed to population pressure that intensifies farming activities along the Park edge that greatly threatened the sustainable management of wildlife in the study area. It is against this background that an Integrated Conservation Development Project is proposed for a sustainable wildlife management roadmap that would have to confront the drivers of conflict by working hand-in-hand with all stakeholders concerned towards a win-win outcome.


Geography ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan B. Dixon ◽  
Afework Hailu ◽  
Tilahun Semu ◽  
Legesse Taffa

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Carolyn Tarrant ◽  
Andrew M. Colman ◽  
David R. Jenkins ◽  
Edmund Chattoe-Brown ◽  
Nelun Perera ◽  
...  

Antimicrobial stewardship programs focus on reducing overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics (BSAs), primarily through interventions to change prescribing behavior. This study aims to identify multi-level influences on BSA overuse across diverse high and low income, and public and private, healthcare contexts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 46 prescribers from hospitals in the UK, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, including public and private providers. Interviews explored decision making about prescribing BSAs, drivers of the use of BSAs, and benefits of BSAs to various stakeholders, and were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Analysis identified drivers of BSA overuse at the individual, social and structural levels. Structural drivers of overuse varied significantly across contexts and included: system-level factors generating tensions with stewardship goals; limited material resources within hospitals; and patient poverty, lack of infrastructure and resources in local communities. Antimicrobial stewardship needs to encompass efforts to reduce the reliance on BSAs as a solution to context-specific structural conditions.


Author(s):  
Godwin Iretomiwa Simon

This article examines the contextual challenges that characterize the video on demand (VOD) market in Africa. It provides critical analysis of the creative strategies employed by Nigeria-based streaming services to navigate the peculiar business environment on the continent. This research is on the background of the poor Internet infrastructure and economic divides in many African countries including Nigeria. Streaming services operating in these markets must understand a context where Internet access is complicated on the levels of availability and/or affordability, including significant lack of confidence in e-payment facilities. All these, together with epileptic power supply and poor standard of living, indicate that streaming services must innovate to capture subscribers within the continent. Despite the harsh operational environment, streaming services in Nigeria have continued to increase in number within the past 5 years. This is attributed to the transnational reach of the streaming services as they are patronized by Africans in diaspora across the globe, while they also enjoy popularity within African countries. This article specifically focuses on the innovative strategies employed by Nigerian streaming services to operate within their African markets in the context of their peculiar challenges. In so doing, it extends extant scholarship about Internet-distributed video using the African context. This article is situated within the Media Industry Studies framework and draws from semi-structured interviews with 7 streaming executives in Nigeria and 10 creative professionals in the Nigerian Video Film Industry (Nollywood). It also relies on desk research of press reports, industry publications, as well as the interfaces of streaming portals. This article underscores the necessity of contextualized research with the digital turn in video distribution. Through contextualized analysis of VOD market realities in a less studied terrain like Africa, it aligns with scholarly call to expand theories of Internet-distributed video to marginal contexts.


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