Mitigation requires a detailed understanding of underlying patterns and processes. However, humanelephant conflict remains pervasive as the majority of existing prevention strategies are driven by sitespecific factors that only offer shortterm. Managing human elephant conflict o establishment of barriers trenches 255 km, beehives 8,850, electric fence, board walk o supporting community livelihoods chilli and other high value crops o building community capacity 879 community scouts o awareness o scare shooting uwa needs to know reasons for the increasing cases despite the. Humanelephant 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. Humanelephant conflict hec is a complex interaction between humans and.
Wellbeing impacts of humanelephant conflict in khumaga. Human elephant conflict is a significant problem in africa, undermining biodiversity conservation and development efforts. As prime elephant habitats are shrinking across asia and human developments are on the rise, both species are increasingly coming into close contact. At the same time, many poor farmers havent changed their daily lives for hundreds of years but their crops and villages are being threatened. This agricultural community is located in the northeast region of jhapa district and is the principal point of entry for elephants from west bengal, india. Guidelines on the better management practices human. The afesg meets this challenge through the work of its human elephant conflict working group. Humanelephant conflict hec occurs when people and wildlife compete for space and resources. In the past 10 years, 372 people have been killed by elephants in assam talukdar, 2010. In fact in most countries cross the asian elephants range it has replace poaching as the major human cause of elephant mortality. Willingness to pay for mitigating humanelephant conflict.
Predicting spatial aspects of humanelephant conflict. Humanelephant conflict hec has created detrimental impacts to the residents of bahundangi in eastern nepal. 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. Human elephant conflict in sri lanka elephant country.
Human elephant conflict in the wazalogone region of. Humans and elephants, through a combination of crop raiding and exploitation, have shaped each others distributions for centuries. 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. A variety of management strategies have been developed and are practiced at different scales for preventing and mitigating humanelephant conflict. Elephants are extremely important to botswanas national economy. Humanelephant conflict is a significant problem in africa, undermining biodiversity conservation and development efforts. Humanwildlife conflict hwc is fast becoming a critical threat to the survival of many globally endangered species, in particular to large and rare mammals such as the sumatran tiger panthera tigris sumatrae and the asian lion panthera leo persica, but also to less endangered species such as the snow leopard uncia uncia and the red colobus monkey procolocus kirkii. Humanwildlife conflict management humanwildlife conflict can be managed through a variety of approaches. In the kenya portion of the ecosystem the maasai mara and surrounding areas, people and wildlife peacefully coexisted for years when space for both. Humanelephant conflict hec is dramatically on the rise and has become one of the major issues in the fight to save asias endangered elephants. A case study in chunati wildlife sanctuary, bangladesh come to the villages as well as to the fields.
Developing effective prevention and mitigation plans for human wildlife conflicts is a top conservation priority in many areas of the world, including china where the conversion of tropical forests to rubber plantations is threatening critical populations of the asian elephant elephas maximus. On average 225 elephants have been killed by farmers annually since 2008 and elephants have killed about 6080 people. Thouless skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Humanelephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant range countries. 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. In the case of elephant and man we have one of the best examples known of two superficially dissimilar animals sharing common biological needs, and therefore competing vigorously whenever they contact each other. Human dimensions of humanelephant conflict in botswana. Examining humanelephant conflict in southern africa. Conflict between humans and elephants have become an important issue for conservationists over the last two decades. Humanelephant conflict hec is a significant problem in nepal, with approximately twothirds of households being impacted by elephants elephas maximus, particularly during the winter. Humanelephant conflicts hec arise with complex interactions between humans and elephants often resulting in detrimental impacts for both species. How do landuse practices affect humanelephant conflict.
The number of wild african elephants loxodonta africana at. Humanwildlife conflict in awf heartlands conflicts between human and wildlife have been extensively documented in the various awf heartlands, including. Humanelephant conflicts occur when elephants raid crops of shifting cultivators in fields, which are scattered over a large area interspersed with forests. An assessment of humanelephant interactions, elephant corridors, and community attitudes around ruaha national park, tanzania. Pdf human elephant conflict nyumba tobbie academia.
Two of the primary examples of conflict in africa are humanpredator lions, leopards, cheetahs, etc. A gps collar on one of the elephants and reports from. Humanelephant conflict hec is a complex interaction between humans and elephants, and represents the detrimental impact both species have on each other. However, for the purpose of this project, the use of the term hec will imply the detrimental impact that elephants have on. Human wildlife conflict management human wildlife conflict can be managed through a variety of approaches. Humanelephant conflict mitigation measures iucn portals. The issue of human elephant conflict has differentiated temporal and spatial patterns in many places, but some general trends include it is. Pdf an assessment of the humanelephant conflict in sri. Teams respond as needed, often driving wild elephants back into the forest using the camp elephants, and recording detailed assessments of any site damage.
In addition to elephant casualties, more than 10% of the households surveyed have had human casualties injury or death during the past 5 years. The search for effective measures to deal with humanelephant conflict is one of the most significant challenges for elephant management. Protection strategies are implemented when the conflict is certain to happen or has already occurred. 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. Depredation of livestock by african predators is well documented in kenya, namibia. As a tropical continent with substantial anthropogenic development, the africa is a hotspot for biodiversity and therefore, for humanwildlife conflict. We studied humanelephant conflict in two areas with contrasting scenarios of landuse and conflict, kahalle and yala. Understanding humanelephant conflict hec is important in many. Humanelephant conflict is one of the biggest environmental and socioeconomic crises of rural sri lanka. Elephanthuman conflict poses a grave threat to their continued existence. Conflict between humans and elephants on private land in northern kenya volume 28 issue 2 chris r. Habitat loss and conflict with people are among the biggest threats to their continued survival. Humanelephant conflict was a major cause of increasing poverty levels and. Elephants as actors in the political ecology of human.
The pattern of humanelephant conflict, as expected, is intermittent. Human elephant conflict can take many forms 9 including the direct killing of elephants by people. Habitat loss and conflict with people are among the biggest threats to. Habitat is shrinking daily and humans are encroaching on the territory of elephants.
Pdf perceptions and patterns of humanelephant conflict. Hec causes crop and property loss and occasionally results in the death of both humans and elephants in nepal. Human elephant 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. Guidelines on the better management practices for the mitigation and management of humanelephant conflict in and around oilpalm plantations in indonesia and malaysia, version 1. Towards humanelephant coexistence in the ruaha ecosystem.
Human elephant conflict in sri lanka submitted by archiver on wed, 10102018 04. The human elephant conflict is a term that defines a growing problem in asia. Analysis of normalised difference vegetation index ndvi between january 1973 and april 2008 showed that intensity of conflict was low when the level of vegetation was high. Elephants are responsible for more than 40% of the humanwildlife conflict, 70% of the wildlife. Humanelephant conflict in botswana is further driven by the political climate in which it is situated. People complain that elephants destroy their home gardens and their vegetable gardens. Humanelephant conflict hec in africa occurs wherever these two species coincide, and poses serious challenges to wildlife managers, local communities and elephants alike. Identifying reasons of occurrence 93 hec should, therefore, no longer be treated as isolated and disconnected from national and international social and political debates. Depredation in human settlements is another major area of humanelephant conflict occurring in small forest pockets, encroachments into elephant habitat, and on elephant migration routes.
Humanelephant conflict is not a new phenomenon and cropraiding has been taking place for centuries. The fence is supposed to prevent elephants from leaving conservancy land to raid crops on smallholder farms. The impacts are widespread on agricultural lands, household livelihoods, personal property, and. Studies on conflict between elephants and humans in asia and in africa have identified crop raiding as the main form of conflict. As a result of trending human population and changes in land use. In many parts of the world, people and animals are increasingly coming into conflict over living space and food. An assessment of the humanelephant conflict in sri lanka. However, the destruction of crops by elephants is the major concern. An attempt was made to quantify the level of threat posed by different problem animals, the significance of human elephant conflict hec in the household economy, and the conservation attitude among respondents. African elephant, conservation, humanelephant conflict, kenya, nonhuman, political ecology 1 introduction a camera trap is installed facing an electric fence in northern kenya. In fact in most countries across the asian elephants range, it has replaced poaching as the major human cause of elephant mortality. Hec is on the rise as the space in the mara diminishes and the population continues to increase. Approaches to studying and mitigating conflict, however, are narrowly focused on visible impacts such. 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.
Asian elephants elephas maximus are an endangered species and humanelephant conflict hec is the major threat to their survival. Early warning of crop raiding and a coordinated response from. The conservation of the african elephant, a flagship species of global significance, provides tremendous. It would be erroneous to consider only the facts and figures of hec while addressing solutions for mitigating conflict. Until a few years ago, elephants summering in the upper reaches as high as 3,300 m. In g eneral, tr aditi onal m eth ods ar e easy to use, have low costs an d ar e m or e effective at low levels o f confli ct. Humanelephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant. Pdf humanelephant conflict is a major conservation concern in elephant range countries. Predicting hotspots of humanelephant conflict to inform. However, humanelephant conflict remains pervasive as the majority of existing prevention strategies are driven by sitespecific.
Humanelephant conflict poses a major threat to elephants in many parts of asia, including sri lanka. Human elephant conflict is not a new phenomenon and cropraiding has been taking place for centuries. Human elephant conflicts occur when elephants raid crops of shifting cultivators in fields, which are scattered over a large area interspersed with forests. The escalation of humanelephant conflict in the past few decades and technological advances have resulted in d evelopm ent of ad diti onal m eth ods to ad dress th e pr oblem. Immediate response to humanelephant conflict incidents has become a routine cru activity in the area. Humanelephant conflict mitigation mara elephant project. Prevention strategies endeavour to avoid the conflict occurring in the first place and take action towards addressing its root causes. Elephanthuman conflict is a result of habitat loss and fragmentation.
This is mainly due to expanding human populations and the continued loss of natural habitats. Humanelephant conflict humans and elephants, through a combination of cropraiding and exploitation, have shaped each others distributions for centuries. Humanelephant 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. Funding this report is made possible by the generous support of the american people through the united states agency for. Human elephant conflict humans and elephants, through a combination of cropraiding and exploitation, have shaped each others distributions for centuries. An assessment of the humanelephant conflict in sri lanka article pdf available in ceylon journal of science biological sciences 391. Humanelephant conflict, and particularly crop raiding, is a perennial problem in both africa and asia.
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