Community participation in ecotourism and its effect on local perceptions of snow leopard (<i>Panthera uncia</i>) conservation

Vannelli, Kate; Hampton, Mark P.; Namgail, Tsewang; Black, Simon A.

doi:10.1080/10871209.2019.1563929

Cited by 44 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…By adopting a community-based conflict mitigation approach we have been successful in reducing human-leopard conflicts within a multi-use landscape of the Himalayan region. Similar success stories such as the “Lion Guardians” project in east Africa ( Hazzah et al, 2014 ), snow leopard community based conservation programs in India ( Vannelli et al, 2019 ), Tiger Team initiative in Bangladesh Sundarbans ( Inskip et al, 2016 ) and Persian leopard conservation project in Iran ( Khorozyan et al, 2017 ) have demonstrated considerable success in improving human-predator relations and created pathways of coexistence within developing regions of the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of non-lethal predator deterrents to reduce livestock losses to leopard attacks within a multiple-use landscape of the Himalayan region

Naha

Chaudhary

Sonker

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Lethal measures are widely adopted by local communities and governments to manage human-wildlife conflicts. Such measures lead to large scale decline of carnivore populations globally with trophic cascades on ecosystems and questionable impacts on human-wildlife conflicts. Mitigating human-carnivore conflicts through non-lethal measures will protect endangered predators and secure livelihoods. However, information on the effectiveness of such measures are extremely limited and hence cannot be applied in developing scientific evidence. Further to develop human-carnivore coexistence models, it is important for local community members, biologists and wildlife managers to actively participate in conservation programs. We evaluated the response of a non-lethal visual deterrent (i.e. fox lights) to deter leopard attacks on livestock within a multiple-use landscape of western Himalaya through community engagement. We monitored 16 experimental sites and 17 control sites within 27 villages and recorded data on livestock depredation by leopards between April 2018 to April 2019. A multivariate analysis was conducted to determine the influence of landscape predictors and animal husbandry practices on livestock depredation by leopards within the vicinity of human settlements. We found that visual deterrents discouraged common leopards to predate on livestock (cows and goats). We also demonstrated that community based conservation initiatives are successful in mitigating human-carnivore conflicts within large semi-natural landscapes. We suggest developing site specific coexistence strategies and adopting non-lethal measures to safeguard carnivores, livestock and humans within shared landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of non-lethal predator deterrents to reduce livestock losses to leopard attacks within a multiple-use landscape of the Himalayan region

Naha

Chaudhary

Sonker

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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“…In a study of jaguars (Panthera onca), Caruso et al (2020) found a similar pattern; people's perceptions and attitudes were strongly influenced by occupation and economic benefits through ecotourism. In Ladakh, India snow leopard based ecotourism has become popular and provides income generation opportunities to the local communities (Jackson, 2015;Maheshwari & Sathyakumar, 2019;Vannelli et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple factors influence local perceptions of snow leopards and Himalayan wolves in the central Himalayas, Nepal

Chetri

Odden

Devineau

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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An understanding of local perceptions of carnivores is important for conservation and management planning. In the central Himalayas, Nepal, we interviewed 428 individuals from 85 settlements using a semi-structured questionnaire to quantitatively assess local perceptions and tolerance of snow leopards and wolves. We used generalized linear mixed effect models to assess influential factors, and found that tolerance of snow leopards was much higher than of wolves. Interestingly, having experienced livestock losses had a minor impact on perceptions of the carnivores. Occupation of the respondents had a strong effect on perceptions of snow leopards but not of wolves. Literacy and age had weak impacts on snow leopard perceptions, but the interaction among these terms showed a marked effect, that is, being illiterate had a more marked negative impact among older respondents. Among the various factors affecting perceptions of wolves, numbers of livestock owned and gender were the most important predictors. People with larger livestock herds were more negative towards wolves. In terms of gender, males were more positive to wolves than females, but no such pattern was observed for snow leopards. People’s negative perceptions towards wolves were also related to the remoteness of the villages. Factors affecting people’s perceptions could not be generalized for the two species, and thus need to be addressed separately. We suggest future conservation projects and programs should prioritize remote settlements.

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“…Ecotourism is a lubricant to strengthen the linkage between conservation and communities' livelihood based on the notion that the needs of local people and the conservation goals can be reconciled (Boley and Green, 2016;Mathis and Rose, 2016;Ma et al, 2019). Despite the conflicted relationship between livelihoods and conservation goals, as a neo-liberal approach to sustainable development, it is argued that ecotourism is touted as a promising route for generating economic incentives, especially for those minority groups or local people and supporting biodiversity conservation simultaneously (Ramírez and Santana, 2018;Vannelli et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating visitors' willingness to pay for a conservation fund: sustainable financing approach in protected areas in Ethiopia

Aseres

Sira

2020

Heliyon

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An increasing number of protected areas (PAs) are being established in many countries to conserve and preserve the wildlife species and to maintain earth's ecological balance, but in emerging economies such as Ethiopia, PAs are currently confronted with inadequate conservation funding that makes it tough to protect the remaining biodiversity. PAs, therefore try to use other financial means such as ecotourism to subsidize their financial shortage and nourishes the nexus between conservation and development. Estimation of visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) would be useful to craft strategies to strengthen the self-financing capability of PAs and hence realizing environmental and livelihood goals. In this study, the visitors' WTP for the proposed conservation fund in the context of Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) was estimated using a contingent valuation method. The finding indicated that 75% of visitors were willing to pay a conservation fee. The mean WTP was estimated to be US$7.40 for foreign visitors and US$1.00 for domestic visitors. The finding suggests that the implementation of conservation fee in addition to the existing entry fee helps to improve the long-term sustainable financing of PAs.

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Community participation in ecotourism and its effect on local perceptions of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) conservation

Abstract: The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.

Cited by 44 publications

References 18 publications

Effectiveness of non-lethal predator deterrents to reduce livestock losses to leopard attacks within a multiple-use landscape of the Himalayan region

Effectiveness of non-lethal predator deterrents to reduce livestock losses to leopard attacks within a multiple-use landscape of the Himalayan region

Multiple factors influence local perceptions of snow leopards and Himalayan wolves in the central Himalayas, Nepal

Estimating visitors' willingness to pay for a conservation fund: sustainable financing approach in protected areas in Ethiopia

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