Challenges Of Elephant Conservation: Insights From Oral Histories Of Colonialism And Landscape In Tsavo, Kenya

Abstract

Understanding the reasons for conflict between elephants and people who live adjacent to conservation areas remains key to recruiting them as allies in preserving elephant populations. The Tsavo region of Kenya has become a notable battleground for elephant conservation in East Africa, characterized by ivory poachers, crop damages by elephants in communities adjacent to parks, and electric fencing to control human and wildlife mobility. Oral histories of six ethnic groups reveal how such human‐elephant conflict emerged during colonial times through a landscape transformation process involving elephants, livestock, people, and vegetation. The general trend over the past two centuries involves a transition from a precolonial modality characterized by human and elephant mobility to their increasing immobility, spatial separation, and conflict. Understanding of the historical emergence of that conflict forces recommendation of a change in policy direction, from further reducing mobility to restoration of mobility and spatial reintegration of people in parks. Keywords: colonialism and landscape, East Africa, elephant conservation, historical political ecology.

The ‘humanised zoo’: decolonizing conservation education through a new narrative

“…Not surprisingly, involvement of local communities against the illegal wildlife trade is often limited to a 'top-down' approach emphasizing legal enforcement while a true engagement of communities in natural resources management is very rare (Biggs et al 2017. Comparing current African elephant numbers with those estimated to be living a century ago and blaming ivory poachers for such a decline is a gross oversimplification (Kamau & Sluyter 2018), reinforcing the view of Africa as an empty continent available for well-intended environmentalists, and distracting from the complexity of the dramatic phenomena taking place in Africa (e.g. land grabbing; Mol 2011).…”

Lack of benefit sharing undermines support for nature conservation in an Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot

“…The inclination to protect plant species over wild animals may further be understood in the context of two factors. First, the long-standing and unresolved human-wildlife conflicts in this region (Hohenthal et al 2018, Kamau and Sluyter 2018, Rülke et al 2020, Siljander et al 2020 led to an aversion to wild animals. This is made clear by women's indication that the constant scaring away of monkeys is a burden, and some fires set in the remaining forest fragments were for the purpose of chasing away or eliminating monkeys (Appendix 2).…”

“…Attitudes toward conservation also depend on the level of formal education and practical environmental knowledge (Sternberg et al 2001, Reyes-García et al 2009, Mawere 2015, gender dynamics (Vodouhê et al 2010), benefit-sharing arrangements (Mutanga et al 2015), disadvantages for humans caused by human-wildlife conflicts (Githiru 2007, Kamau and Sluyter 2018, Ceauşu et al 2019, Killion et al 2020, degree of poverty, and land available for subsistence farming . Additionally, communication barriers and power imbalances between local people and environmental management authorities undermine concerted efforts for nature conservation (Weichselgartner and Kasperson 2009).…”

Home range and space use by African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

“…Elephants have been extensively studied across several landscapes and different environments. For instance, studies have assessed the spatial distribution of elephants along with their vital ecological drivers (Bohrer et al, 2014; Gara, 2014; Kamau & Sluyter, 2019; Ngene, 2010; Ngene et al, 2009; Scogings & Sankaran, 2020). Also, studies have assessed movement metrics as a function of environmental factors across time (Gara, 2014; Ngene et al, 2009; Wall et al, 2014).…”