Approaches to studying and mitigating conflict, however, are narrowly focused on visible impacts such. Hence, it is not surprising this area represents a hec hotspot in the region. As a result, the last of the wild asian elephants are being killed not for \u0003ivory, but as a last resort for survival. Humanelephant conflict mitigation mara elephant project.
The expansion of conflict showed a significant southward trend and was associated with forest cover dropping below 3040%. Land conflicts may be the greatest longterm threat to elephant conservation because as people and elephants inhabit the same areas and share scarce resources, there will be more pressure to encroach on elephant habitat for human uses, and this will get worse as human populations continue to grow. Elephant human conflict is a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. Human wildlife conflict refers to the interaction between wild animals and humans, and the resultant negative impact on people, animals, resources, and habitats. Humanwildlife conflicts and management options in bangladesh, with special reference to asian elephants elephas maximus. Myanmar is an ideal location for asian elephant elephas maximus l. Habitat loss and humanelephant conflict in assam, india. Failure to recognize the significance of the human elephant conflict can result in a negative attitude to elephants and apathy or indifference to conservation initiatives.
Depredation of livestock by african predators is well documented in kenya, namibia, botswana, and more. Towards human elephant coexistence in the ruaha ecosystem. Protectionist conservation groups have recently attempted to play down the importance of humanelephant conflict, contending that it has been greatly exaggerated by those advocating sustainable use of wildlife. As prime elephant habitats are shrinking across asia and human developments are on the rise, both species are increasingly coming into close contact. Examining humanelephant conflict in southern africa. Using beehive fences to increase human elephant coexistence for smallscale farmers in kenya book chapter. Most of these conflicts, however, occur in small forest pockets. Asia, then hec will have to be resolved, or the conflict minimized to the point.
Elephant crop raiding is one of the most relevant forms of humanelephant conflict hec in africa. We studied human elephant conflict in two areas with contrasting scenarios of landuse and conflict, kahalle and yala. We tested communitybased cropguarding methods with and without novel chilibased elephant deterrents and describe changes in farmers. Towards humanelephant coexistence in the ruaha ecosystem. Human elephant conflict hec occurs when people and wildlife compete for space and resources. Human wildlife conflict occurs when wildlife requirements encroach on those of human populations, with costs both to residents and wild animals iucn 2005. Peoples attitudes toward wildlife conservation can significantly affect the success of conservation initiatives. For example today human elephant conflict has transcendent from being a purely wildlife management problem to one of the biggest socio. Humanelephant confict in tumkur district, karnataka, india.
Equator initiative 2008 ravi corea, president, sri lanka wildlife conservation society coordinator, human elephant conflict task force, iucn asian elephant specialist. A rapid survey of human elephant interactions along the western boundary of rungwakizigomuhesi game reserves. Symposium on humanelephant relationships and conflicts, sri lanka, s. Jan 23, 2020 project orange elephant is a conflict specific holistic approach to mitigating human elephant conflict in sri lanka chathuranga dharmarathne 1 chandima fernando 1. Spatial distribution of humanelephant conflict the spatial distribution of hec was assessed. Human wildlife conflict management human wildlife conflict can be managed through a variety of approaches. Depredation in human settlements is another major area of human elephant conflict occurring in small forest pockets, encroachments into elephant habitat, and on elephant migration routes. Humanelephant conflict hec occurs when people and wildlife compete for space and resources. View human elephant conflict research papers on academia. We studied humanelephant conflict in two areas with contrasting scenarios of landuse and conflict, kahalle and yala. We document mental health antecedents and consequences. At the same time, many poor farmers havent changed their daily lives for hundreds of years but their crops and villages are being threatened. We investigate psychosocial and mental health impacts of human elephant conflict. Northern botswana holds the largest population of african elephants in the world, and in the eastern okavango panhandle, 16,000 people share and compete for resources with more than 11,000 elephants.
Human dimensions of humanelephant conflict in botswana. It is widely accepted that reduction of hec will often require communitybased methods for repelling elephants but there are few tests of such methods. The fence is supposed to prevent elephants from leaving conservancy land to raid crops on smallholder farms. However, human elephant conflict remains pervasive as the majority of existing prevention strategies are driven by sitespecific factors that only offer shortterm. However, increasing humanelephant conflict hec threatens to derail ongoing elephant conservation programs. Aug 25, 2019 the human elephant conflict is a term that defines a growing problem in asia. Project orange elephant is a conflict specific holistic approach to mitigating human elephant conflict in sri lanka chathuranga dharmarathne 1 chandima fernando 1. The data of human elephant conflict during 2010 causes.
An assessment of humanelephant conflict in the western. Humanelephant conflict zones in the buffer zones of pendjari and w biosphere reserves, benin, based on information provided by local farmers. Elephants as actors in the political ecology of human. Review of humanelephant conflict mitigation measures practiced in south asia. In the kenya portion of the ecosystem the maasai mara and surrounding areas, people and wildlife peacefully coexisted for years when space for both. Funding this report is made possible by the generous support of the american people through the united states agency for. Assessment and prediction of spatial patterns of humanelephant conflicts in changing land cover scenarios of a. Human elephant conflict in botswana is further driven by the political climate in which it is situated. Elephant human conflict poses a grave threat to their continued existence. Christy williams, eric wikramanayake, tariq aziz, sameer m.
Understanding humanwildlife conflict is an important first step in the conservation of highly. In 2002 this was renamed the humanelephant conflict working group hecwg to more accurately reflect the ongoing nature of its work. In india, the increase in population of elephant with no increase in forest area poses danger to the farmers of both small scale subsistence agriculture and international agribusiness. The human elephant conflict is a term that defines a growing problem in asia. Humanelephant conflict mitigation iucn ssc humanwildlife. There are several projects and initiatives, on the mitigation of elephanthuman conflict, taking place around the country w ith little sharing of information. Tumkur district is compiled in the form of spread sheets the major cause for the human elephant conflict in the district is the intrusion of wild elephants into the tumkur district from bannerghatta national park. Issues were often polarized or framed in dramatic terms, and consonance in reporting causes was lacking. Humanelephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant range countries. Highlights we investigate psychosocial and mental health impacts of humanelephant conflict. The assessment of the humanelephant conflict was carried out from january to march 2008 through the use of a. The available forest department records related to conflict since 2007 onwards were used for analysis.
Understanding the factors influencing these attitudes is essential for designing strategies to alleviate human wildlife conflict. The crocodile is the animal responsible for the most human deaths in africa. Hec in the northern region involves transboundary herds and the sociological dimension of hec there is understudied. A rapid survey of humanelephant interactions along the. Manelephant conflict a case study from forests in west. This assessment builds on previous work to provide greater insight into the relative severity of human elephant conflict in villages bordering the gr boundary in. Humanelephant conflict hec is a serious threat to elephants and can cause major economic losses. In 2002 this was renamed the human elephant conflict working group hecwg to more accurately reflect the ongoing nature of its work. Elephant pepper development trust, livingstone, zambia and. On average 225 elephants have been killed by farmers annually. Challenges and management 1 human wildlife conflict challenges and. Willingness to pay for mitigating humanelephant conflict by. Pdf humanelephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant range countries.
Although it is unlikely that the human elephant conflict can be eliminated altogether, yet every effort must be taken to reduce it to tolerable levels. Human elephant conflicts hec arise with complex interactions between humans and elephants often resulting in detrimental impacts for both species. When elephants and humans interact, there is conflict from crop raiding, injuries and deaths to humans caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans for reasons other than ivory and habitat degradation. Protection strategies are implemented when the conflict is certain to happen or has already occurred. Most activities conducted to safe guard crops and to mitigate the human elephant conflict have been d eveloped alm ost en tir ely fr om th e poin t of vi ew o f human. Humanelephant conflict in india, driven by habitat loss and an expanding human population, is a complex challenge for biodiversity conservation. Therefore, continuous monitoring and adaptive management based on results is critical for successful human elephant conflict mitigation. The future of elephants in ecosystems over much of the continent will depend largely upon the attitudes and activities of humans. Based on our results we propose that a critical habitat threshold for human elephant conflict may exist at 3040% forest cover. Depredation in human settlements is another major area of humanelephant conflict. Humanelephant conflict hec is dramatically on the rise and has become one of the major issues in the fight to save asias endangered elephants. It occurs when growing human populations overlap with established wildlife territory, creating competition for space and resources.
Human elephant conflict is one of the biggest environmental and socioeconomic crises of rural sri lanka. As a tropical continent with substantial anthropogenic development, the africa is a hotspot for biodiversity and therefore, for human wildlife conflict. When elephants and humans interact, there is conflict from crop raiding, injuries and deaths to humans caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans for. Readers will discover insights into changes in the behavioral pattern of elephants and local people in the conflict ridden zones, and how this influences food selection. Human elephant conflict poses a major threat to elephants in many parts of asia, including sri lanka. Elephants are extremely important to botswanas national economy. In india, wild elephants probably kill far more people than tiger, leopard or lion. In fact in most countries across the asian elephant s range, it has replaced poaching as the major human cause of elephant mortality. The damage of their habitat would trigger conflict with humans, he added. Spatial distribution of human elephant conflict the spatial distribution of. Kahalle was developed and settled under the mahaweli irrigation project and the main agricultural practice was irrigated agriculture, with two annual growing seasons. Human elephant conflict is a substantial problem in elephants for africas study area, and through our applied research and working with local communities we are working towards human.
Bksda aceh probes death of young elephant found in oil. Hec causes crop and property loss and occasionally results in the death of both humans and elephants in nepal. A stakeholder assessment of humanelephant conflict in benin figure 3. In the past 10 years, 372 people have been killed by elephants in assam talukdar, 2010.
A variety of management strategies have been developed and are practiced at different scales for preventing and mitigating human elephant conflict. Human elephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant range countries. Pdf sociological dimensions of humanelephant conflict with. Attitudes of local people toward wildlife conservation. The increasing human pressure due to human activities like. Each strategy group is then discussed, with emphasis on its potential success. How do landuse practices affect humanelephant conflict in. Prevention strategies endeavour to avoid the conflict occurring in the first place and take action towards addressing its root causes. Oct 18, 2017 asian elephants elephas maximus are an endangered species and humanelephant conflict hec is the major threat to their survival. Wildlife managers in one state do not have access to research findings or results of mitigation measure testing being carried out in other states. Jun 23, 2016 roughly 20% of the worlds population lives near the asian elephant. There should be a clear and succinct definition of human elephant conflict prior t o laying out a set of principals of human elephant conflict. Perception of humanelephant conflict and conservation. African elephant, conservation, human elephant conflict, kenya, non human, political ecology 1 introduction a camera trap is installed facing an electric fence in northern kenya.
An assessment of human elephant elephas maximus conflict was carried out in bandipur national park bnp, karnataka during 2012. Bangladesh is a tenacious frontier of human elephant conflict hec, with conflict in the country escalating over the last 20 years. Two of the primary examples of conflict in africa are human predator lions, leopards, cheetahs, etc. An assessment of the humanelephant conflict in sri lanka. Jan 11, 2019 human elephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant range countries. Elephants are responsible for more than 40% of the humanwildlife conflict, 70% of the wildlifecaused human casualties, and a 25% loss in crop. Humanelephant conflict hec is a complex and pervasive problem that occurs. In order to meet this challenge, in 1997 the african elephant specialist group afesg officially inaugurated a fivemember humanelephant conflict task force.
Human elephant conflict hec is a complex and pervasive problem that occurs throughout the range of the african elephant wherever elephants and people share the same habitat, often competing for the same resources. Pdf an assessment of the humanelephant conflict in sri. Case study from tamil nadu 447 use of s earch light served as a mitigating factor to avoid elephant intrusion into the villages from the nearby forest areas. Human elephant conflict is broadly defined as any interaction that results in negative effects on human, social, economic, or cultural life, on elephant conservation, or on the environment parker et al. We argue for a new interdisciplinary paradigm bridging ecology and the clinic. The problems that farmers experience do to cropraiding and other types of humanelephant conflicts include the direct effects of lost livelihood and income and indirect. However, human elephant conflict remains pervasive as the majority of existing prevention strategies are driven by sitespecific factors that only offer short.
Human elephant conflict zones in the buffer zones of pendjari and w biosphere reserves, benin, based on information provided by local farmers. Habitat loss and conflict with people are among the biggest threats to their continued survival. Over the last 100 years, african elephant populations have declined from 35 million to 470,000690,000 and asian elephant populations have declined from 100,000 to between 35,000 and 50,000. Although this topic has been studied extensively across diverse regions, there has been no such study in the kashmir division of jammu and kashmir. This study evaluates the economic viability of elephant conservation in nepal within. Through this book we also learn about rational management strategies that can be employed on the local and national level to mitigate human elephant conflicts. Hec is on the rise as the space in the mara diminishes and the population continues to increase.
Humanelephant conflict mitigation measures iucn portal. Depredation in human settlements is another major area of human elephant conflict. Alleviation of humanwildlife conflicts is one of the great challenges for conservation of wildlife worldwide 1,2. Studies on conflict between elephants and humans in asia and in africa have identified crop raiding as the main form of conflict.
In africa, humans and forest elephants have not coexisted peacefully through history. Perceptions and patterns of humanelephant conflict in old. Box 15 adverse effects of human wildlife conflict on wildlife conservation 34 box 16 awareness raising. Project orange elephant is a conflict specific holistic. View humanelephant conflict research papers on academia. Preexisting mental illness is worsened and newer morbidities are. Pdf sociological dimensions of humanelephant conflict. This article traces the depiction of human elephant conflict in the media by examining a how conflicts are framed and b how ultimate and proximate causes are communicated in indian and international newspapers. Causes and options for coexistence abstract though african elephants loxodonta africana are listed as endangered by the international union for theconservation of nature and natural resources iucn, efforts to protect and conserve the species have been. Humanelephant conflict hec is a significant problem in nepal, with. Wellbeing impacts of humanelephant conflict in khumaga.
Human elephant conflicts occur when elephants raid crops of shifting cultivators in fields, which are scattered over a large area interspersed with forests. Causes and options for coexistence abstract though african elephants loxodonta africana are listed as endangered by the international union for theconservation of nature and natural resources iucn, efforts. Primary conflicts included crop raiding, human casualties and elephant mortality. Oct 12, 2010 failure to recognize the significance of the human elephant conflict can result in a negative attitude to elephants and apathy or indifference to conservation initiatives.
Human elephant conflict in serengeti district 2 an assessment of humanelephant conflict in the western serengeti authors. Veterinary science, wildlife science, human elephant conflict, case study, mitigation, elephants. An assessment of human elephant interactions, elephant corridors, and community attitudes around ruaha national park, tanzania. Examining human elephant conflict in southern africa.
Habitat loss and conflict with people are increasing. In order to meet this challenge, in 1997 the african elephant specialist group afesg officially inaugurated a fivemember human elephant conflict task force. Health impacts of conflict penetrate deeper than immediate threat from elephants. All continents and countries whether developed or developing, are affected by human wildlife conflict human wildlife conflict in africa, fao forestry paper 157. Determining if, how and why this conflict has changed over time will be an important step towards managing landscapes where people and elephants elephas maximus coexist. In fact in most countries across the asian elephants range, it has replaced poaching as the major human cause of elephant mortality.
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