Understanding the human dimensions of coexistence between carnivores and people: A case study in Namibia

Abstract

Many carnivore populations were in decline throughout much of the 20 th century, but due to recent conservation policies, their numbers are stabilising or even increasing in some areas of the world. This, compounded with human population growth, has caused increased livestock depredation by carnivores, which threatens farmer livelihoods, particularly those in developing countries such as Namibia. How to resolve this so-called "conflict" between carnivores and livestock farmers remains challenging, in part because some mitigation strategies have proven somewhat ineffective or unacceptable. By using a case-study approach on the commercial farmlands of northcentral Namibia, I aimed to understand the complexity of the human dimensions affecting coexistence between carnivores and people in an unprotected working landscape. Specifically, my objectives were to 1) develop a participatory decisionmaking exercise to analyse the views of stakeholders on how they would like carnivores to be managed in unprotected lands, 2) understand how the media framed financial incentives to improve human-carnivore coexistence, and 3) determine if there were any underlying social, economic or political causes of negative human-carnivore interactions on commercial livestock farms.To answer objective 1, I developed a new decision-making exercise that combined Q-methodology and the Delphi technique to determine whether a diverse group of stakeholders could agree on how to manage carnivores on commercial farmland. A strong agreement was reached by participants: providing conservation education and training on livestock husbandry were acceptable and effective ways to improve coexistence with carnivores. This new also method highlighted areas of disagreement between stakeholders and showed that there were two different narratives on how carnivores should be managed. This method could be used by policy makers to help with participatory decision-making for resolving other conservation conflicts.To answer objective 2, I undertook content analysis of national newspapers to determine how the media framed articles on financial incentives to mitigate this conservation conflict. The most common (30%) financial incentive discussed was compensation -many (61%) of these articles framed compensation positively. Niki Rust © 2015However, upon categorising these articles into those where respondents were enrolled in compensation schemes compared with those who were not, a clear pattern emerged: articles were more likely (89%) to be framed ambivalently or negatively when respondents had experience of this financial incentive compared with respondents that did not. These results can help conservationists plan more effective communication interventions and anticipate issues that can affect the success of mitigation strategies.To answer objective 3, I undertook eight months of participant observation on livestock farms and interviewed 69 respondents and found that reported livestock depredation was associated with increased instances of poaching of wildl...

Can stakeholders agree on how to reduce human–carnivore conflict on Namibian livestock farms? A novel Q-methodology and Delphi exercise

“…They agreed that training farm workers to improve their livestock husbandry and teaching people about carnivores could reduce conflict. Farm workers in Namibia tend to be from poor backgrounds and have limited education (Hunter, 2004), and therefore it is possible that educating them about effective husbandry will benefit the situation (Rust, 2015b). Previous research has shown that increased knowledge of carnivores and livestock husbandry practices can increase tolerance and reduce livestock depredation on Namibian farms (Marker et al, 2003), thus the Delphi/Q-methodology has successfully highlighted areas of agreement that reflect effective solutions to mitigating human–wildlife conflict.…”

Social capital factors affecting uptake of sustainable soil management practices: a literature review

“…The concept of homophily (the degree to which actors associate themselves with similar people; akin to "in-groups" discussed below) plays an important role for trust building over long distances. Homophily is influential if people attribute trustworthiness to others based on the other person's network position or organisational/institutional affiliations, or having the same culture or ethnicity (Rogers, 2003). Based on stereotypes, trust can even be assigned to roles and public figures that one trustee has never met in person (Henry & Dietz, 2011).…”

Quantity Does Not Always Mean Quality: The Importance of Qualitative Social Science in Conservation Research

“…Observations are recorded on a particular scenario and immediately analysed to determine if there are recurrent themes that should influence the direction of the research topic (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). For a more detailed description and justification of this approach, along with the methods, interview questions, sampling strategy and data analysis used in Rust et al (2016), see Rust (2015).…”