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Residents perspectives on human-wildlife conflict management to build community resilience in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

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Mar 14, 2023 version files 146.57 KB

Abstract

  1. Human-wildlife conflict can significantly impact economic, social, and ecological systems critical to promoting sustainable development. Effectively managing conflicts between people and wildlife that share a common landscape requires the implementation of effective management strategies that aim to reduce the impacts of HWC and promote coexistence as preferred by the community. However, many studies have often overlooked social aspects, especially the residents’ perceptions of HWC management, that can help build community resilience.
  2. Residents and wildlife share a common landscape in the Chitwan National Park in Nepal. Competition for resources grows as the human-modified landscape provides a new form of habitat for wildlife. We used Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to capture the residents' (n=506) perspectives on the importance of HWC management strategies and their performance by park management to prioritize strategies that could help build community resilience.
  3. We found notable mean performance-importance gaps for the eight HWC management strategies, representing the park management’s inability to meet the desired need of  farmers and non-farmers. The IPA matrix grid shows the three strategies - skill, livelihood, and compensation - that need immediate attention from park management as they fall under high-priority strategies in quadrant II. The two-way ANOVA results revealed that the residents’ perspectives on importance and performance in all management sectors differ.
  4. We conclusively recommend developing site-and context-specific HWC management plans that consider the affected community's livelihood needs, which are essential for increasing the operational effectiveness of HWC management. Park management should prioritize strategies in sectors more vulnerable to HWCs to secure community support for long-term conservation goals.
  5. This study will be a key reference for identifying context-specific management strategies that incorporate community resilience in the management of human-wildlife conflict. This could inform HWC management policy and conservation planning to achieve coexistence that benefits both people and wildlife, particularly in low-income countries with similar socio-ecological settings. Overall, our findings provide a new perspective on human-wildlife conflict management that policymakers, researchers, and protected area managers around the world can use to build community resilience to facilitate coexistence.