Mainstreaming human and large carnivore coexistence through institutional collaboration

Abstract

Achieving coexistence between large carnivores and humans in human‐dominated landscapes (HDLs) is a key challenge for societies globally. This challenge cannot be adequately met with the current sectoral approaches to HDL governance and an academic community largely dominated by disciplinary sectors. Academia (universities and other research institutions and organizations) should take a more active role in embracing societal challenges around conservation of large carnivores in HDLs by facilitating cross‐sectoral cooperation to mainstream coexistence of humans and large carnivores. Drawing on lessons from populated regions of Europe, Asia, and South America with substantial densities of large carnivores, we suggest academia should better embrace the principles and methods of sustainability sciences and create institutional spaces for the implementation of transdisciplinary curricula and projects; reflect on research approaches (i.e., disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary) they apply and how their outcomes could aid leveraging institutional transformations for mainstreaming; and engage with various institutions and stakeholder groups to create novel institutional structures that can respond to multiple challenges of HDL management and human–large carnivore coexistence. Success in mainstreaming this coexistence in HDL will rest on the ability to think and act cooperatively. Such a conservation achievement, if realized, stands to have far‐reaching benefits for people and biodiversity.

What makes a major change of wildlife management policy possible? Institutional analysis of Polish wolf governance

“…Such activities may at some point require introduction of more collaborative approaches to support coexistence between humans and large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes [110]. As argued by Hartel et al [111], collaborative efforts should be strengthened by transdisciplinary research and active engagement of researchers in creating new institutional structures. Our case confirms that, in a favourable context, such collaboration between stakeholder groups and academia can have a significant impact on institutional dynamics.…”

Human-carnivore relations: conflicts, tolerance and coexistence in the American West

“…Third, we found that highly relevant actors, such as farmers and decision-makers are less represented in research than others, such as managers, the general public and rural residents ( figure 2(a)). Human-carnivore research that overlooks the diversity of social actors involved in human-carnivore management can perpetuate and escalate the conflict with carnivores and create new social conflicts (Hartel et al 2019). To effectively promote coexistence, future research therefore should address the social causes underpinning conflicts, including human-human conflicts, the latter especially can be important but have often overlooked (Dickman 2010, Young et al 2010, Draheim et al 2015.…”

“…Specific methods include collaborative learning, mental models, discursive approaches, and structure decision making (Chan et al 2012, Ban et al 2013. In addition, Hartel et al (2019) proposes to go beyond the simple inclusion of multiple actors and research the deeper levels of values and norms that underpin the actors' actions and behavior. By incorporating norms and values, but also through sustained collaboration with local actors, transdisciplinary approaches can therefore contribute to the long-term viability of humancarnivore coexistence (Hartel et al 2019).…”

“…These obstacles require future research on how to build platforms for collaboration among key actors and institutions across states in order to foster coexistence in the American West. Although the formation of cross-state platforms might lead to new conflicts (Redpath et al 2017), such platforms could also represent new institutions by which multiple actors can embrace the challenge of coexisting with carnivores and engage to find shared solutions (see also Smith et al 2016, Hartel et al 2019. In this context, our proposal goes beyond including different sectors and actors since it aims to promote cross-state and transboundary collaborative management in the American West.…”

The social context for conservation: amphibians in human-shaped landscapes

“…In some contexts, population viability modeling and decision analysis provide valuable tools for projecting future populations states (Converse and Grant, 2019;Davis et al 2019). However, in many human-shaped landscapes these approaches may have limited practical applicability, particularly where natural and cultural values are threatened by various economic interests and conflicts between stakeholders regarding nature conservation goals are common (Hartel et al 2019). Furthermore, in certain cultures (e.g.…”