No abstract
The conflict between humans and wildlife is a global issue in the increasingly shared landscape. Human–Wildlife Conflict (HWC) is often viewed as a threat to most of the rural populace of the world, as crop losses to wildlife remove the household’s food supply, and are an economic drain on the homestead. In this paper, we study the extent of crop damage by wild animals in two districts of Bhutan: Trashiyangtse and Tsirang. We surveyed 431 respondents from the two districts and interviewed 40 central and local government officials and residents. The vast majority of respondents from both study districts (Trashiyangtse = 98.7%; Tsirang = 92.2%) reported having experienced conflicts with wild animals from 2017 to 2019. On average, respondents’ households lost over half a month to more than a month’s worth of household food requirements, with some households claiming to have lost over six months’ worth of household food requirements, annually to wild animals. The loss of crops to wild animals removes households’ food supply and discourages farming, resulting in increased fallow lands. The fallow lands which are close to human settlements, then become habitats for wild animals, aggravating the incidence of HWC, and as such are directly linked to reduced food production.
Internal migration has played a significant role in shifting the population from rural to urban areas worldwide. In Bhutan, rural depopulation is mostly concentrated in the country's eastern and some central parts, and is changing the rural landscape, economy, and society. In discussing rural population change, the term Gungtong is widely used in the Bhutanese media and public discourses. The literal translation of Gungtong is an empty registered house. However, Gungtong is often interpreted differently in the absence of a clear legal definition. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is to explore the various interpretations of the term Gungtong and understand its meaning. To explore this, 40 semistructured interviews with Bhutanese officials and rural residents were conducted. The study highlights that the Gungtong data gathered annually by the government are based on the administrative complexity of rural taxation policy rather than the actual departure of people from rural areas and empty houses. However, the conversation around Gungtong relates to the globally recognized issue of rural depopulation. Thus, there are discrepancies within the official dataset and between the dataset and the general understanding of the issues and implications of Gungtong. Developing a clear understanding of the term Gungtong and restructuring the data collection of empty houses will help answer some critical questions on the impact of rural depopulation in farming and the rural economy, considering Bhutan's aspiration to be food self-sufficient.
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