Human-wildlife conflict and community perceptions towards wildlife conservation in and around Wof-Washa Natural State Forest, Ethiopia: a case study of human grivet monkey conflict

Background: Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is predicted to increase globally in the vicinity of protected areas and occurs in several different contexts and involves a range of animal taxonomic groups whose needs and requirements overlap with humans. Human-monkey conflict exists in different forms more in developing countries and ranks amongst the main threats to biodiversity conservation. Grivet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops aethiops) are any slender agile Old-World monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus. This study was conducted to investigate the status of human grivet monkey conflict and the attitude of local communities towards grivet monkey conservation in and around Wof-Washa Natural State Forest (WWNSF), Ethiopia from September 2017 to May 2018. Questionnaire survey (143) was used to study the human-grivet monkey conflict and its conservation status. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the responses were compared using a nonparametric Pearson chi-square test. Results: Majority of respondents from both gender (male= 67.1%; female= 74.1%) were not supporting grivet monkey conservation due to its troublesome crop damaging effect. There was significant difference in respondents perceptions towards grivet monkey conservation based on distance of farmland from the forest (χ2= 12.7, df =4, P = 0.013). There was no significant difference in the techniques used by villagers to deter crop raiders (χ2= 14.73, df =15, P = 0.47). There was significant difference in respondents expectations on the mitigation measures to be taken by government (χ2= 40.01, df =15, P = 0.000). Based on the questionnaire result, 42.5 ± SD 8.68 of respondents in all villages elucidated that the causes of crop damage was habitat degradations.Conclusion: The encroachment of local communities in to the forest area and exploitation of resources that would be used by grivet monkey and enhanced crop damage by grivet monkey exacerbated the HGMC in the study area. As a result grivet monkeys have been killed relentlessly as a consequence of crop damage. This was due to negative energy developed in human perspective. Thus, awareness creation education program and feasible crop damage prevention techniques need to be implemented.

Effect of Climate Change on Acquisition of Quality Education: A Case Study of Maasai Pastoralists in Narok County, Kenya

Climate change is a global phenomenon with far reaching impacts. Arid and semi-arid communities in Kenya, among them the Maasai community from Narok County, are dependent on the natural resources for their livelihood thus are greatly hit by the adverse impacts of climate change. This paper sought to establish the indirect effects of climate change on the quality of education among the Maasai community. Desktop literature review approach and key informant phone interviews were adopted for data collection. The review of literature indicated that increased poverty levels arising from climate change has largely affected the affordability of quality education. Therefore, people in Maasai community resort to coping mechanisms on labour demands that accelerate school dropout as well as early marriages. The Maasai herders are forced to increase their migration trends to long distances, a practice that has increased child labour disrupting learning for most school going children. In addition, the girl child has become more vulnerable to sexual abuse and early marriages with a consequent denial of education opportunities. The effect of the climate change on wildlife habitat has led to human- wildlife conflict that poses a threat to the security of the community members and therefore interferes with the smooth running of schools. Consequently, interventions to mitigate climate change effects should not only concentrate on the direct but also the indirect impacts that have got multiplier effects on sectors like education. These interventions should include, provision of adequate water infrastructure, investment in education policy and boarding school Infrastructural development.

IMPACT OF HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT IN THE SURROUNDING VILLAGES OF OLD OYO NATIONAL PARK

The study assesses the impacts of Human-Wildlife conflicts in the surrounding villages in Old Oyo National Park (OONP), Nigeria. Two ranges out of the five ranges were used. Four villages were selected based on the distribution of primates and wildlife populations with each range producing two villages around Old Oyo National Park, were randomly selected for wildlife assessment. A total of 80 well-structured questionnaires were administered to the villagers with each getting 20 questionnaires respectively. Data collected were subjected to inferential and descriptive statistics. Result shows that among other socio demographic characteristics tested against the impact of Human –wildlife conflict in the park, educational level and religion show significant difference (p<0.05). the buffer zone around the park has been extensively encroached; this made most of the surrounding villages to the park fall within the average distance of 2.6km. about 79% of the villages make use of fire wood for their household cooking. Major animals that intrude farmlands in the study areas include monkey (24%), Grasscutter (11%), Cattle (19%), Gorilla (12%), Antelope (6%), Cane rat (5%) and Rabbit (3%). Some of the crops attacked by the wildlife animals include; tubers (24%), tubers and vegetable (7%), tubers and fruits (36%), tubers, vegetable and fruits (3%), vegetable (7%), fruits (3%). All the respondents (100%) rated the level of attack and damages to their crops as high.

Marine heatwave challenges solutions to human–wildlife conflict

Despite the increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme climate events, little is known about how their impacts flow through social and ecological systems or whether management actions can dampen deleterious effects. We examined how the record 2014–2016 Northeast Pacific marine heatwave influenced trade-offs in managing conflict between conservation goals and human activities using a case study on large whale entanglements in the U.S. west coast's most lucrative fishery (the Dungeness crab fishery). We showed that this extreme climate event diminished the power of multiple management strategies to resolve trade-offs between entanglement risk and fishery revenue, transforming near win–win to clear win–lose outcomes (for whales and fishers, respectively). While some actions were more cost-effective than others, there was no silver-bullet strategy to reduce the severity of these trade-offs. Our study highlights how extreme climate events can exacerbate human–wildlife conflict, and emphasizes the need for innovative management and policy interventions that provide ecologically and socially sustainable solutions in an era of rapid environmental change.

Patterns of livestock depredation and Human–wildlife conflict in Misgar valley of Hunza, Pakistan

Throughout the world, livestock predation by mammalian carnivores causes significant economic losses to poor farmers, and leads to human–wildlife conflicts. These conflicts result in a negative attitude towards carnivore conservation and often trigger retaliatory killing. In northern Pakistan, we investigated livestock depredation by large carnivores between 2014 and 2019, and subsequent Human–wildlife conflict, through questionnaire-based surveys (n = 100 households). We used a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data on livestock population, depredation patterns, predation count, and conservation approaches. We found a statistically significant increasing pattern of predation with influential factors such as age, gender, occupation, education of respondents, population of predators, threats index for predators and conservation efforts. Some 310 livestock heads with an average of 51 animals per year out of the total 9273 heads were killed by predators, and among them 168 (54%) were attributed to the wolf and 142 (45.8%) to snow leopard. Major threats to carnivores in the area included retaliatory killing, habitat destruction and climate change. Incentivization against depredation losses, guarded grazing and construction of predator-proof corral may reduce Human–wildlife conflict and both livelihood and predator can be safeguarded in the study area.

Human Wildlife Conflict and Impacts on Livelihood: A Study in Community Forestry System in Mid-Hills of Nepal

Human wildlife conflict (HWC) impacts the livelihood of many rural communities worldwide. This study investigated the impact of HWC on people living near community forests (CF) in Nepal. Using databases provided by the Division of Forest Offices and data obtained from surveys between October 2019–March 2020, we quantified the financial loss of HWC to the local people. Between 2015 and 2019, 3315, or 27%, of the livestock owned by the survey respondents were killed by wild predators in the Kaski and Tanahun Districts. Chicken (Gallus spp.) was the most common prey taken (80%), followed by sheep (Ovis spp.) and goats (Capra spp.) (15%), cows (Bos spp.) (2%), pigs (Sus spp.) (2%), and buffalo (Bubalus spp.) (1%). Leopards (Panthera pardus) were the primary predators, followed by golden jackals (Canis aureus), jungle cats (Felis chaus), yellow-throated martens (Martes flavigula), and Himalayan black bears (Ursus thibetanus). The financial loss of livestock during this period was USD $115,656.00, equivalent to USD $142.61 per household. Crops were also damaged and eaten by wildlife, and 2165 crop-raiding events were recorded between 2015 and 2019. Rice (Oryza sativa), followed by maize (Zea mays), millet (Panicum miliaceum), and potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) were the main crops lost. Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were the most common crop raiders, causing 74% of the damage, followed by Indian field mice (Mus booduga) (12%). From 2015 to 2019, crop losses equated to USD $83,424.00. Forest regeneration on abandoned agricultural land expanded wildlife habitats, enabling wild animals to come within reach of human settlements, which increased the likelihood of HWC events. Although the success of the community forest restoration program resulted in increased forest-cover, marginally increasing biodiversity, the reduced distance between human settlements and wildlife habitat, compounded by a lack of natural prey, may have unwittingly exacerbated HWC in this region. We recommend surveying predator and prey populations in the forest habitat, and implementing a habitat management program to improve prey populations within the community forests. Meantime, we propose establishing a financial relief and insurance program for crop and livestock losses at the local community level to alleviate any financial difficulties to the local communities caused by HWC.

Wildlife Affordances of Urban Infrastructure: A Framework to Understand Human-Wildlife Space Use

Landscape affordances, what the environment offers an animal, are inherently species-specific to the extent that each taxon has unique needs and responses to landscape characteristics. Wildlife responses to landscape features range on a continuum from avoidance to attraction and quantifying these habits are the backbone of wildlife movement ecology. In anthropogenically modified landscapes, many taxa do not occupy areas heavily influenced by humans, while some species seem to flourish, such as coyotes (Canis latrans) and pigeons (Columba livia). Sufficient overlap in landscapes designed for human purposes (e.g., freeway underpasses, channelized waterways, and cemeteries) but which are also suitable for wildlife (e.g., by providing sources of food, shelter, and refuge) underlies wildlife persistence in urban areas and is increasingly important in the world's largest metropoles. Studying these overlapping worlds of humans and wildlife in cities provides a rich foundation for broadening human perceptions of cities as ecosystems that exhibit emergent hybridity, whereby certain anthropogenic features of urban landscapes can be used by wildlife even as they maintain their utility for humans. By examining scaling dynamics of the infrastructural signature, the phenomena of urban wildlife movement patterns conforming to the shapes of human infrastructural forms, we hope to expand on prior research in wildlife landscape ecology by stressing the importance of understanding the overlapping worlds of humans and wildlife. Further knowledge of the urban ecological commons is necessary to better design cities where emergent hybridity is leveraged toward the management goals of reducing human wildlife conflict and promoting biodiversity.

Reconciling biome-wide conservation of an apex carnivore with land-use economics in the increasingly threatened Pantanal wetlands

Conservation of carnivores involves finding solutions to minimize habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict. Understanding the nature of land-use economics can allow us to mitigate both threats. In the Pantanal, the two main economic activities are cattle ranching and ecotourism, each of which directly and indirectly affect the persistence of jaguars (Panthera onca). To understand how the geography of these economic activities is related to jaguar populations, we developed a jaguar distribution model (JDM), livestock density model, and ecotourism lodge density model for the Pantanal. Due to the recent wildfires within the Pantanal, we also assess the impact of burnt areas that are suitable for jaguars, cattle ranching, and tourism. Our JDM indicate that 64% of the Pantanal holds suitable habitat for jaguars. However, jaguar habitat suitability was positively correlated with ecotourism, but negatively correlated with areas most suitable for intensive cattle-ranching. This demonstrates a biome-wide scenario compatible with jaguar conservation. Of particular concern, recent wildfires overlap most suitable areas for jaguars. If wildfires become increasingly frequent, this would represent a serious threat to jaguars and many other wildlife populations. We emphasize the global importance of the Pantanal wetland ecoregion as a key stronghold for long-term jaguar conservation.