Agroforestry, elephants, and tigers: balancing conservation theory and practice in human-dominated landscapes of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Large mammal populations theoretically are best conserved in landscapes where large protected areas are surrounded by buffer zones, connected by corridors, and integrated into a greater ecosystem. Multi-use buffer zones, including those containing complex agroforestry systems, are promoted as one strategy to provide both economic benefits to people and conservation benefits to wildlife. We use the island of Sumatra, Indonesia to explore the benefits and limitations of this strategy. We conclude that conservation benefits are accrued by expanding the habitat available for large mammals but more attention needs to be focused on how to reduce and respond to human-wildlife conflict that is likely to occur in these multiple use areas. Agroforestry systems are likely to play an increasingly valuable role in the conservation of large mammalian species. We believe this value can be increased still further if the agroforestry community decides to assume a leadership role in addressing the issue of human-wildlife conflict, which is fast becoming a central threat to the survival of many large endangered species like tigers and elephants. Both people and wildlife can benefit enormously if appropriate methods are developed to more rigorously define the distribution and frequency of conflict between tigers and elephants with people along the edge of protected areas. Sharp forest-agriculture boundaries may reduce tiger-human conflicts, but not elephant-human conflict according to the data we currently have.

Potential of indigenous multistrata agroforests for maintaining native floristic diversity in the south-eastern Rift Valley escarpment, Ethiopia

“…Multistrata agroforests contribute to biodiversity conservation via: (i) the provision of supplementary habitat for species that tolerate a lower level of disturbance; (ii) conservation of remnant native species; (iii) buffering the pressure on natural habitats; (iv) provision of corridors for persistence and movement of species across landscapes (Nyhus and Tilson 2004;McNeely and Schroth 2006;Bhagwat et al 2008); conserving gene pools of native tree species in fragmented landscapes (Das and Das 2005;Harvey and Villalobos 2007).…”

Factors affecting crop damage by wild boar and methods of mitigation in a giant panda reserve

“…Many animal species across the world are known to damage crops, for example, African (Loxodonta Africana; Hoare 2000) and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus; Zhang and Wang 2003), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in North America (Conover and Decker 1991), vervet monkeys in Uganda (Saj et al 2001), the Eurasian Badger (Meles meles) in European (Baker et al 2005), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in many countries (e.g., Calenge et al 2004;Choquenot et al 1996;Fernández-Llario et al 2003;Fruziński and Poznań 2002;Geisser 1998). Humanwildlife conflict arises for several reasons: (1) human population growth (Nyhus and Tilson 2004;Richard et al 2004;Vijayan and Pati 2002), (2) habitat encroachment (Balmford et al 2001;Nyhus and Tilson 2004), (3) changes in patterns of land use (Sukumar 1991;Vijayan and Pati 2002), and/or (4) implementing nature conservation measures (Fall and Jackson 1998;Messmer et al 1997;Sukumar 1991).…”

Will Agroforests Vanish? The Case of Damar Agroforests in Indonesia

“…Tree-based agricultural systems are expected to sustain long-term productivity through maintaining soil and water quality, while providing other environmental benefits, such as carbon sequestration and in some cases biological diversity (e.g., De Jong 2002). Implemented in buffer zones, they are expected to help protect remaining natural forests (Nyhus and Tilson 2004). The promotion of agroforestry practices fits well within current popular approaches towards environmental conservation that stress the need for managed landscapes in which agricultural areas provide ecosystem services (Shriar 2000;Scherr and McNeely 2003;Wiersum 2004;Sanchez 2004;Ashley et al 2006;Vandermeer and Perfecto 2006).…”