The new approaches advocated by the conservation community to integrate conservation and livelihood development now explicitly address landscape mosaics composed of agricultural and forested land rather than only protected areas and largely intact forests. We refer specifically to a call by Harvey et al. (2008) to develop a new approach based on six strategies to integrate biodiversity conservation with sustainable livelihoods in Mesoamerican landscape mosaics. We examined the applicability of this proposal to the coffee agroforests of the Western Ghats, India. Of the six strategies, only one directly addresses livelihood conditions. Their approach has a clear emphasis on conservation and, as currently formulated risks repeating the failures of past integrated conservation and development projects. It fails to place the aspirations of farmers at the core of the agenda. Thus, although we acknowledge and share the broad vision and many of the ideas proposed by this approach, we urge more balanced priority setting by emphasizing people as much as biodiversity through a careful consideration of local livelihood needs and aspirations.

Kodagu district produces 2% of the world's coffee, in complex, multistoried agroforestry systems. The forests of the district harbour a large population of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). The combined effects of high elephant density and major landscape changes due to the expansion of coffee cultivation are the cause of human-elephant conflicts (HEC). Mitigation strategies, including electric fences and compensation schemes implemented by the Forest Department have met with limited success. Building on previous studies in the area, we assessed current spatial and temporal trends of conflict, analysed local stakeholders' perceptions and identified factors driving elephants into the estates. Our study, initiated in May 2007, shows that the intensity of HEC has increased over the last 10 years, exhibiting new seasonal patterns. Conflict maps and the lack of correlation between physical features of the coffee plantations and elephant visits suggest elephants move along corridors between the eastern and western forests of the district, opportunistically foraging when crossing the plantations. Dung analyses indicate elephants have selectively included ripe coffee berries in their diet. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of wild elephants feeding on coffee berries. If this new behaviour spreads through the population, it will compound an already severe conflict situation. The behavioural plasticity, the multiplicity of stakeholders involved, the difficulty in defining the problem and the limits of technical solutions already proposed suggest that HEC in Kodagu has the ingredients of a "wicked" problem whose resolution will require more shared understanding and problem solving work amongst the stakeholders.

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Kodagu district produces 2% of the world's coffee, in complex, multistoried agroforestry systems. The forests of the district harbour a large population of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). The combined effects of high elephant density and major landscape changes due to the expansion of coffee cultivation are the cause of human-elephant conflicts (HEC). Mitigation strategies, including electric fences and compensation schemes implemented by the Forest Department have met with limited success. Building on previous studies in the area, we assessed current spatial and temporal trends of conflict, analysed local stakeholders' perceptions and identified factors driving elephants into the estates. Our study, initiated in May 2007, shows that the intensity of HEC has increased over the last 10 years, exhibiting new seasonal patterns. Conflict maps and the lack of correlation between physical features of the coffee plantations and elephant visits suggest elephants move along corridors between the eastern and western forests of the district, opportunistically foraging when crossing the plantations. Dung analyses indicate elephants have selectively included ripe coffee berries in their diet. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of wild elephants feeding on coffee berries. If this new behaviour spreads through the population, it will compound an already severe conflict situation. The behavioural plasticity, the multiplicity of stakeholders involved, the difficulty in defining the problem and the limits of technical solutions already proposed suggest that HEC in Kodagu has the ingredients of a ''wicked'' problem whose resolution will require more shared understanding and problem solving work amongst the stakeholders.

Agroforestry systems are the most promising land use practice for achieving both conservation goals and supporting rural livelihoods at landscape level. Coffee agroforests in Western Ghats region of India are sustainably managed under the shade of native trees. Kodagu district located in the Central Western Ghats is the largest shade coffee-growing regions in the country hosting rich biodiversity. In the recent years, the landscape is undergoing transformation in terms density and diversity of shade trees to increase coffee production. With the base line data from Coffee Agro-Forestry Network project during 2008, the present study was carried out during 2017 in four villages under Cauvery watershed, namely Arekad, Hachinad, Yeduru and Byrambada. The important objective of this study was to analyze the changes in tree diversity and structure and the effect of land tenure systems on tree density. We adopted similar sampling procedures for tree enumeration as that of first census conducted during 2008. Results revealed that the Grevillea robusta remained as the dominant tree species with an increased importance value index from 36.05 to 2008 to 53.29 in 2017. Tree density decreased significantly from 2008 (420 ± 349 number of stems ha -l ) to 2017 (274 ± 82 number of stems ha -l ). Basal area has increased from 2008 (27.62 ± 11.27 m2ha -l ) to 2017 (30.31 ± 11.03 m2ha -l ). Among the tenure systems, tree density was higher in unredeemed coffee farms compared to redeemed coffee farms. In this study, the sampling was limited to the Cauvery watershed. Therefore, we recommend further studies to address the dynamics of tree diversity and structure covering larger part of the coffee-growing region.