Research‐implementation gap limits the actionability of human‐carnivore conflict studies in East Africa

Abstract

Conflict with humans is one of the primary reasons why large carnivore populations are declining worldwide. Rates of human-carnivore conflict (HCC) are particularly high in East Africa, where human settlements tend to surround protected areas, maximizing potential for human-carnivore interactions. Despite extensive HCC research in this region, HCC persists and carnivore populations continue to decline. Evident disconnects between HCC research and conservation action, management practices and policy formation have been cited as mechanisms associated with these trends. We conducted a literature review to determine the extent to which HCC research in East Africa is actionable within the context of management and policy formation. We evaluated 36 papers for co-production, interdisciplinary collaboration, applied or theoretical publication and stakeholder engagement. Many were published by co-authors in academia (63.8%) and collaborative efforts between academics and non-governmental organizations (25.0%), with limited representation outside these sectors. Collaboration with disciplines outside the natural sciences, specifically the social and political sciences (both 2.8%), was also uncommon although humans were the primary topic of study in 28% of papers. Moreover, while many papers were published in applied journals (86%), few explicitly stated policy and management objectives. Stakeholder engagement was mostly in the form of surveys and questionnaires rather than direct involvement in the research process. Our review indicates that HCC research currently lacks strong evidence of actionability and we provide recommendations for improving the practical salience of conservation research.

Unraveling the complexity of human–tiger conflicts in the Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra

“…Numerous studies have highlighted the disconnect between research and action, known as the ‘research‐implementation gap’ (Knight et al ., 2008). This also applies to addressing human‐carnivore conflicts (Gray et al ., 2019). Here, we make three key management recommendations based on the main findings from our study and describe how they are being implemented by NGO‐government‐community partners in the field.…”

Spatial Pattern Analysis Reveals Randomness Among Carnivore Depredation of Livestock

“…As there are multiple ways to do so, we chose to use three different statistical tests as a triangulation approach to verify our results. Second, there is a clear researchimplementation gap that separates risk modeling for humancarnivore conflict and the development of policies designed to conserve these species (Miller, 2015;Gray et al, 2019). Thus, our secondary consideration involved the scale of inference of the statistic.…”

Examining Drivers of Divergence in Recorded and Perceived Human-Carnivore Conflict Hotspots by Integrating Participatory and Ecological Data

“…Treves and Karanth, 2003;Ugarte et al, 2019 Distance to protected area 1) Distance protected area is negatively correlated with both perceived and verified conflict, with a stronger effect for verified conflict. Mkonyi et al, 2017;Ugarte et al, 2019;Weldemichel and Lein, 2019;Gray et al, 2020 with men and women gathering on different days to encourage open conversation and a broad range of perspectives (Pfeiffer and Butz, 2005). A total of 322 maps were drawn across all participatory mapping questions and sessions.…”

“…While these and other socioeconomic factors help predict local perceptions of conflict, the application of information on perceptions to structure and implement programs HCC is rare (Lozano et al, 2019). Moreover, the participatory methodologies necessary to assess and apply human perceptions are scarce across human-wildlife conflict research (Gray et al, 2020). This is despite the known importance of considering spatial, ecological, and social variables together for long-term conflict mitigation (White et al, 2009), and the common acknowledgment that conservation conflicts are best managed when science and solutions are co-created with affected communities (Treves et al, 2009;Redpath et al, 2013).…”