Human dimensions of wildlife conservation in Iran: Assessment of human-wildlife conflict in restoring a wide-ranging endangered species

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflicts restrict conservation efforts, especially for wide-ranging animals whose home ranges overlap with human activities. We conducted a study to understand conflicts with, and factors influencing the perceived value of an expanding population of onagers ( Equus hemionus onager ) in local communities in southern Iran. We asked about locals’ perceptions of six potential management strategies intended to lessen human-onager conflict. We found that human-onager conflict was restricted to 45% of respondents within the Bahram-e-Goor Protected Area, all of whom were involved in farming or herding activities. Locals within the protected area were more knowledgeable about onagers and valued onagers more than those living outside the protected area. The perceived value of onagers increased with level of education, total annual income, and perceptions of onager population trends; the perceived value of onagers decreased with the magnitude of conflict between onagers and locals. To tolerate or avoid conflicts with onagers, locals were supportive of monetary compensation and changing from a traditional lifestyle to industrialized farming (for farmers) or livestock production (for herders) with the help of government; locals did not support selling land to the government. Our study is among the first in human-wildlife conflict and local attitudes towards an endangered species and its recovery in Iran. We conclude that current levels of human-onager conflict are relatively low and perceived value of onagers is still relatively high. Therefore, wildlife authorities should consider the development of mitigation strategies with local communities before conflicts intensify.

Integrating spatial analysis and questionnaire survey to better understand human-onager conflict in Southern Iran

“…In similar systems, crop-raiding conflicts involving the khur subspecies ( E. h. khur ), for example, have recently increased because of natural dispersal of increasing populations into adjacent agricultural landscapes 10 . In contrast to findings from Esmaeili et al (2019) 37 , human-wildlife conflicts in our study area are relatively high (in comparison to past years), especially during dry summers and cold winters when forage is scarce. At such times onagers are forced to leave the protected areas and enter neighboring agricultural lands looking for food.…”

“…Studies combining social sciences with habitat connectivity are scant globally 36 . Moreover, there has been little research about human-onager conflict in the study area 37 despite its holding one of the largest remaining populations of Persian onager and also being an area of particularly high human-onager conflict. Hence, our study is one of the first studies that integrated spatial ecology of an endangered species with its human dimensions to facilitate sustainable coexistence.…”

A Bioinformatics Model of Human Diseases on the Basis of Differentially Expressed Genes (of Domestic Versus Wild Animals) That Are Orthologs of Human Genes Associated with Reproductive-Potential Changes

“…Nevertheless, now among the most challenging problems is how to restore many critically endangered animal species within the unclear natural limitations of population restoration by captive breeding [ 36 ]. One possible step towards solving this urgent problem could be a bioinformatics model of human diseases on the basis of differentially expressed genes (of domestic versus wild animals) that are orthologs of human genes associated with reproductive potential changes, in order to determine how the anthropogenic environment, compared to natural wildlife, can alter the animal gene expression on the genome-wide scale and thus affect reproductive potential.…”

Wildlife and Newspaper Reporting in Iran: A Data Analysis Approach

“…Wildlife conflict studies in Iran are rare, and so are the solutions. One domestic survey conducted across three central provinces showed that the human–onager conflict relates to the depredation of crops, such as alfalfa, wheat, and barley [ 75 ]. Another Iranian study used the information from GPS-collared wolves to evaluate the feeding behaviour of wolves and the locality of human settlements in Hamedan province (West) [ 76 ].…”

“…The result of such enhanced conservation activities demonstrated an increase of 17% in the prey population combined with a decrease in poaching violations by 27% in cheetah habitats in 2013–2014 [ 85 ]. In order to discourage the killing of cheetahs, the Department of Environment implemented a monetary compensation scheme of direct payments to herders whose livestock are attacked and killed by wildlife, though compensation is restricted to a few special cases [ 75 ].…”