Perception and attitude of pastoralists on livestock-wildlife interactions around Awash National Park, Ethiopia: implication for biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Introduction: Pastoral livestock share grazing areas and watering points with wildlife around the protected areas in Eastern Africa. This causes a high degree of livestock-wildlife interactions, leading to conflicts between the local community and park staff. Thus, understanding the perception and attitude of local people towards livestockwildlife interaction is very crucial to optimize both livestock production and biodiversity conservation in protected areas. This paper presents the perception and attitude of local community towards livestock-wildlife interactions around Awash National Park (ANP), Ethiopia. Methods: Interview to 180 randomly selected households, representing Afar, Ittu, and Kereyu ethnic groups living around ANP, was conducted from August to December 2015 using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data on community attitude towards wildlife, livestock production systems, and its constraints were collected through focus group-and key informant discussions. We used ordinal logistic regression model to analyze community attitude towards wildlife conservation. Results: Respondents ranked feed shortage (0.38), lack of water (0.32), and climate change (0.30) as the major constraints of livestock production around ANP. A high degree of conflict (79%; χ 2 = 24.09; df = 2; P = 0.000) between the local community and park was recorded. About 73% of the households would be ready to live in harmony with the park. However, 85% of park staff considered the community as a threat, due to high livestock grazing pressure and illegal park resource use. Overall, community attitude towards wildlife significantly varied (χ 2 = 46.28; df = 4; P = 0.00) particularly due to educational level (χ 2 = 15.96; df = 6; P = 0.014), income source (χ 2 = 16.77; df = 2; P = 0.00), and distance of household from ANP (χ 2 = 20.51; df = 4; P = 0.00). The logistic regression model revealed that ethnic group, education, benefit obtained, and conflict with the park were significantly associated with attitude towards wildlife (χ

Understanding primate‐human interaction: Socioeconomic correlates of local awareness and attitude toward the endangered golden langur Trachypithecus geei (Khajuria, 1956) in Bhutan

“…This is because environmental science incorporating wildlife conservation is prominent in Bhutanese education. Embedding wildlife conservation into the school curriculum has also effectively generated wildlife awareness amongst educated residents adjacent to Awash National Park, Ethiopia (Biru, Tessema, & Urge, ). Also, more households with lower education levels (nonformal, monastic education) and/or no education inside protected areas were aware of the langur's status, compared with the corresponding households outside protected areas.…”

Understanding the Dynamics of Human–Wildlife Conflicts in North-Western Pakistan: Implications for Sustainable Conservation

“…A wide range of wild species come into conflict with humans [6,12], the impacts of which are grievous and best documented in the case of large mammals [5,13,14]. The visible and common impacts of HWC around the protected areas include crop damage, livestock predation, and attacks of wild animals on humans [4,[15][16][17]. In addition, other impacts such as animal-vehicle collisions (AVC), property intrusions, damage caused by wild animals to cars, buildings, and other properties also exist but more frequently in urban areas [17,18].…”

Assessment of Human-Wildlife Conflict and the Attitude of Local Communities to Wild Animal Conservation around Borena Sayint National Park, Ethiopia

“…Crop damage, livestock depredation, and attacks to humans are the main problems around national parks [5,6]. Geladas ( eropithecus gelada), vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), rodents, and bird species are to be among the destructive wild animals in terms of crop damage [2].…”