Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Impacts Community Perceptions around Kibale National Park, Uganda

Abstract

The attitudes of community members living around protected areas are an important and often overlooked consideration for effective conservation strategies. Around Kibale National Park (KNP) in western Uganda, communities regularly face the threat of crop destruction from wildlife, including from a variety of endangered species, such as African elephants (Loxodonta africana), common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles), as well as other nonhuman primates, including olive baboons (Papio anubis). These frequent negative interactions with wildlife lead many community members to resent the park and the animals that live within it. To mitigate these issues, community members around KNP partnered with researchers to start a participatory action research project to reduce human-wildlife interactions. The project tested four sustainable human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies: digging and maintaining trenches around the park border, installing beehive fences in swampy areas where trenches could not be dug, planting tea as a buffer, and growing garlic as a cash crop. These physical exclusion methods and agriculture-based deterrents aimed to reduce crop destruction by wild animals and improve conditions for humans and wildlife alike. We conducted oral surveys with members of participating communities and a nonparticipating community that border KNP to determine the impact of these sustainable human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies on attitudes toward KNP, wildlife officials, and animal species in and around KNP. We found that there is a positive correlation between participation in the project and perceived benefits of living near KNP. We also found that respondents who participated in the project reported more positive feelings about the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the organization that oversees KNP. This research will help inform future conservation initiatives around KNP and other areas where humans and animals face conflict through crop damage.

Anthropogenic Pressures on Gorillas: A Case of Grauer’s Gorillas in Maiko National Park, the Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Moreover, increased human-gorilla interaction habituates gorillas to human presence, such that gorillas lose their fear to humans, attacking people working in the farm fields or collecting firewood near the forest or the protected park reserves. At the same time, the gorillas expose themselves to the risks of capture or killing by the poachers [1,2]. Overall, poaching remains a threat to gorillas' existence in the DRC.…”

“…Human activities continuously put biodiversity under pressure, adversely affecting the balance of forest ecosystems and wildlife habitats. At the same time, anthropogenic activities increase the chances for human-wildlife interaction [1,2]. Anthropogenic pressure involves human activities such as farming, overgrazing, mining, bush burning, hunting, poaching, and timber harvest that impact the environment [3].…”

From embedded to dis-embedded community: With a discussion of community theory for the national parks and its policy enlightenments

“…制度建构不等于美德生成，但制度可以通过有目的激励或约束，实现有效的社会美 德控制。中国要实现人与自然和谐共生现代化，达到"制度激发美德、个人获得享受" 的共同善，就必须厘清从国家公园治理到人类共同情感形成的关系机理。因此，解密制 度对国家公园共同体的载体化过程更具科学意义。那么，国家公园制度是否是"善"的 制度呢？观察已有研究的学术理路，一是国家公园空间制度研究，有学者研究"政府计 划型"国家公园制度 [69] ，也有学者研究"破坏限制型"国家公园制度 [70,71] ，分析特定国家 公园制度变迁及其原因 [72] ，多数学者主张应坚持国家主体性、国家主导性的治理逻辑； 二是国家公园制度外部性研究，如制度供给与国民健康 [40] 、地方感与地方依恋 [51] 等的关 图 3 工具理性下的国家公园管理与治理研究及待解问题 究 [73,74] ，这对推演国家公园制度影响及其共同体建构具有借鉴意义。虽然零散有研究证实 了国家公园制度建设对于公众自然道德、地方集体认同形成的推动作用，但基本是停留 在基于个案的地方感、地方依恋 [51,52]…”

How to Integrate Strategy and Culture for Transformative Change

“…Evidence that strategy design and culture are not speaking to each other can be seen in community-industry conflict where local communities are not involved in the commercialization of ventures such as wildlife reserves set up within the community (Kolinski & Milich, 2021). The conflict is manifest in the extraction of local minerals such as gold in Ghana, oil in Nigeria and diamonds in South Africa with little, if any, benefit accruing to the custodial communities (Christensen, 2019).…”