Comparative Analysis of Monetary Transaction Cost of Human-Wildlife Conflict in Mt. Kenya and Amboseli Ecosystems, Kenya

Abstract

Historically, HWC has been reported in the form of crop raiding, livestock predation, property damage, human attacks, disease transmission and ignored hidden costs (HC) such as compensation transaction costs. The HC of HWC are costs that are uncompensated, temporally delayed, or of psychosocial nature. HC of HWC are not recognised in Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (WCMA) 2013 and are scantly researched to inform compensation policy decisions; yet people in Amboseli ecosystem (AE) and Mt. Kenya Ecosystem (MKE) incur these HC. The aim of this study is to estimate and compare the monetary transaction costs (MTC) of HWC in Kenya, using AE and MKE as case studies. Time Value for Money concept was used to estimate transaction costs as Future Value of the delayed compensation (Present Value) for respondents who had not been paid over 1-year period. MTC from uncompensated human fatalities resulted to the highest loss in both MKE (KES 228,763.89/US$1628.79) and AE (KES 152,462.33/US$1085.53). Generally, both AE and MKE lost an average of KES 410,168.04 due to delayed payment of compensation claims for one year alone. MTC arising from crop damage (t=2.175, d.f=217, p=0.031) was significantly different in AE and MKE, with respondents in AE expecting KES 17,081.839 (US$121.62) more than those in MKE. MTC were more in AE than MKE due to the differences in the human population, land use practices and physical barriers in the two ecosystems. The HC are key driver to community resentments due to the substantial money and time spent and not compensated. There is a need to review WMCA 2013 to incorporate the transaction cost of HWC and ways of minimizing delay in compensating victims of HWC.