Broadening the toolset for stakeholder engagement to explore consensus over wolf management

Participatory co-learning for human-wildlife coexistence: Reflections on a novel program applying systems thinking, nonviolent communication, and learning-based approaches

As wildlife habitats become increasingly fragmented, sharing landscapes with wildlife is becoming difficult and complex. Because stakeholders with diverging interests struggle to collaborate to manage human-wildlife interactions, new approaches are needed. Here we reflect on a novel participatory learning program we implemented with farmers in communal conservancies in the Zambezi region of Namibia. The 9 week program aimed to understand why human-wildlife conflict remained a challenge. We combined three theoretical framings in the program design-systems thinking, nonviolent communication, and learning based approaches. We summarize key outcomes of each session and reflect on the overall program. We found a synergistic effect of the three framings and concluded that our integrated program had been a useful collaborative learning tool to understand the human-wildlife governance system, identify interventions, empower communities, and build capacity for collaboration to improve human wellbeing and human-wildlife interactions. Drawing on our experience, we make suggestions for how the program could be adapted for similar or other environmental problems elsewhere.

Building a decision-support tool to inform sustainability approaches under complexity: Case study on managing wild ruminants

In wildlife management, differing perspectives among stakeholders generate conflicts about how to achieve disparate sustainability goals that include ecological, economic, and sociocultural dimensions. To mitigate such conflicts, decisions regarding wildlife management must be taken thoughtfully. To our knowledge, there exists no integrative modeling framework to inform these decisions, considering all dimensions of sustainability. We constructed a decision-support tool based on stakeholder workshops and a Bayesian decision network to inform management of wild ruminants in the federal state of Lower Austria. We use collaborative decision analysis to compare resource allocations while accounting for trade-offs among dimensions of sustainability. The tool is designed for application by non-technical users across diverse decision-making contexts with particular sets of wildlife management actions, objectives, and uncertainties. Our tool represents an important step toward developing and evaluating a transparent and replicable approach for mitigating wildlife-based conflicts in Europe and beyond.

Towards a sustainable fisher-dolphin coexistence: Understanding depredation, assessing economic damage and evaluating management options

Finding solutions for a sustainable coexistence between wildlife and humans is considered among the most challenging environmental management issues for scientists, conservationists, managers, and stockholders world-wide. Depredation by the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) on small scale fisheries has increased in the recent years, leading to a growing conflict in many areas of the Mediterranean Sea and pressing for urgent management solutions. This study aims at developing a management framework for a sustainable coexistence between fishers and dolphins in Sardinia (Mediterranean Sea). Relying on the combination of different approaches (field study, literature review and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis), the scientific evidence necessary for understanding dolphin depredation were updated and improved, the related economic damage was calculated, and different management options were identified and evaluated by several stakeholder groups to support the decision-making process. Averaging for all investigated net types (gillnet and trammel net), a depredation frequency of 53% was found, the highest values ever found in both Sardinia and many other Mediterranean sites. Depredation probability was influenced by different factors, such as net type, fishing operation duration, depth of the fishing site and period. The estimated economic damage due to depredation ranges on average between 6492 and 11,925 euro per year and depends on the type of fishing net. The results from the field study, the literature review and the stakeholder involvement allowed us to define the most plausible and shared management options, identifying a framework for assessing and managing the conflict between fishers and dolphins for the creation of a more sustainable vision for the future.

Community-Based Workshops to Involve Rural Communities in Wildlife Management Case Study: Bighorn Sheep in Baja California, Mexico

The description of natural history, and information on the factors threatening conservation, the distribution area, and the status of species population are necessary for proper wildlife management. The objective of this research was to generate such information in two rural communities and to engage residents in bighorn sheep management through a program of three workshops. The first one covered training regarding natural history and management of the species. The second one consisted in the description of the habitat of the species through a dynamic of participatory mapping. The third, include a design of a one strategy to monitor the bighorn sheep population. The workshops were attended by 37 people from the two rural communities. The results suggest the economic element was the main interest of the inhabitants regarding the bighorn sheep. Eleven risk factors were identified to the bighorn sheep in the study sites, a participatory map with relevant information for the management of the species on each community was developed, and a monitoring strategy of the bighorn sheep population was prepared. The workshop program proposed in this research is a tool that can be applied in rural communities to lay the groundwork for a long-term management project of wildlife species.

Transdisciplinary deficit in large carnivore conservation funding in Europe

Achieving coexistence between humans and large carnivores in human-shaped landscapes is a complex challenge. Addressing this challenge requires the revaluation of the approaches academia uses to foster carnivore conservation and human-large carnivore coexistence. In this forum paper, we provide a brief overview of the three archetypical approaches of knowledge generation for large carnivore conservation in human dominated landscapes (disciplinary, interdisciplinary and emerging transdisciplinary approaches) and highlight the need for more explicit consideration of transdisciplinarity in large carnivore conservation funding. We refer to transdisciplinary deficit (TDD) for those situations when the context allows the implementation of transdisciplinarity but research and practice remains disciplinary or interdisciplinary. We identify drivers of this TDD and provide a brief overview of current and past conservation funding programmes at the European level in terms of their capacity to promote transdisciplinary approaches for large carnivore conservation. We show that current funding programmes favour sectorial and disciplinary approaches, resulting in low transdisciplinary substance in large carnivore conservation projects. TDD can be overcome by transforming the character of public funding towards multi-stakeholder collaboration, designing and nurturing effective communities of practice, and reducing co-financing rates for large, integrated projects.

Coexistence in Times of Climate Crisis: A Participatory Mapping to Understanding Conservation Conflicts in the Central Andes of Chile

Purpose

Human-wildlife conflicts worldwide are arising, representing significant challenges for conservation biologists, decision-makers, and agropastoralist communities. Extreme climatic events, disease outbreaks, and land-use change could be intensifying these conflicts. The multi-species and mountainous landscapes seem prone to conflicts due to a lack of territory planning. These complex, dynamic, and multi-layered conflicts require a multidimensional approach. Currently, in Chile, mountainous landscapes have several threats, such as a lack of territory planning, mega-mining projects, and recently (last 10 years) the effects of the Mega-drought. Many transhumant agropastoralists have been forced to quit their livelihoods while increasing livestock-wildlife conflicts. We aim to build territorial planning within a holistic approach to strengthening the agropastoralists' competence to coexist with local wildlife (puma, condor, and guanaco) in Central Chile's Andes mountains.

Methodology

We conducted participatory mapping workshops with two agropastoralist communities in 2020. They were randomly divided into 4 to 7 people groups and told to draw a map representing their territory, including four elements: (1) natural and human components of the landscape, (2) natural wildlife conflict areas, (3) active grazing areas, and (4) their ideal future scenario, regarding their activity.

Findings

Results showed different spatial perceptions of the natural and human components of the territory. All agropastoralists (100%) indicated similar wildlife conflict areas: focusing in the Summerlands. All agreed that Mega-drought was the primary threat to their production, increasing the conflict with wildlife. Summerland areas are identified as suitable areas for working in conflict with wildlife.

Research Limitations/Implications

This study highlights the need for a multidimensional approach to conflict and territory planning to address conservation conflicts. The study's implications show that agropastoralists decided to reduce Summerland use and improve Winterland planning to increase livestock productivity and reduce conflict with wildlife. Participatory mapping could help to prioritize areas to mitigate conflicts with wildlife.

Originality/Value

This study is the first in the Aconcagua valley to conduct a transdisciplinary & participatory approach toward coexistence between transhumant agropastoralists and wildlife. It also provides a baseline for similar schemes in semi-arid and mountainous landscapes worldwide facing rapid climate shifts and increasing human-wildlife conflict.

Tolerance for Wolves in the United States

This study applies a psychological hazard-acceptance model to U.S. wolf conservation. Where most prior studies have focused on human populations most likely to interact with wolves (e.g., people who reside in wolves’ range), we sought to model tolerance among the general public throughout the United States, with representative samples from two regions with ongoing recovery efforts (i.e., the Northern Rocky Mountains and Western Great Lakes) as well as the rest of the country. As opposed to typical, attitudinal measures of tolerance (e.g., wildlife acceptance capacity) we sought to model supportive and oppositional behavior among the U.S. public as a function of perceptions of risk, benefit, and control, trust in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and affect toward wolves. At the national level, results predict a moderate amount of the variance for tolerant, stewardship behaviors (r2 = 0.22–0.25) and intolerant, oppositional behaviors to wolf conservation (r2 = 0.14–0.22). Most respondents (55%) did not intend to engage in either supportive or oppositional actions, and 23% indicated a preference for wolf populations to increase nationally. These preferences varied slightly by sample region when weighted to reflect regional demographics, with about one in three respondents in the Northern Rocky Mountains preferring for wolf populations to increase (32%), and slightly fewer saying the same in the Western Great Lakes region (30%) and rest of the United States (27%). We performed a post hoc logistic regression to identify factors that predisposed U.S. residents nationally to engage in any behavior toward wolves (tolerant or intolerant). This analysis suggested that the perceived importance of the wolf issue was most predictive of intentions to engage in behavior relevant to wolf conservation. Analyses indicate high levels of tolerance for wolves nationally, some support for their restoration, and only small minorities engaging in oppositional behavior. With the recent shift to individual state-level management, a more diverse policy matrix will increase the importance of understanding how human tolerance for wolves varies spatially (at the local level), and what factors drive tolerance at both the individual and group level.

Dealing With Deadstock: A Case Study of Carnivore Conflict Mitigation From Southwestern Alberta

Livestock deaths are an unfortunate reality for livestock producers and dead livestock (i.e., deadstock) disposal options can have implications beyond the ranch itself. In Alberta, Canada, natural disposal (i.e., disposing of the carcass in a manner that allows for scavenging) has increased since the 2003 detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canadian cattle. Prior to BSE, rendering companies removed deadstock for free. However, rendering companies started charging producers to remove deadstock to offset costs associated with new regulatory requirements enacted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which has resulted in increased on-farm natural disposal of deadstock. This increase has ecological implications because deadstock are a major attractant for large carnivores. Carnivores feeding on deadstock are often near other agricultural attractants such as stored grain and feed, silage, and living livestock, which can exacerbate conflict potential and pose a risk to human safety. To help mitigate conflicts associated with deadstock, the Waterton Biosphere Reserve's (a local non-profit) Carnivores and Communities Program (CACP) supported expansion of community deadstock removal efforts beginning in 2009, including reimbursement of on-farm removal costs, bear-resistant deadstock bins, and a livestock compost facility (operational 2013–2014). Here, we present an evaluative case study describing the development, implementation, and results of the deadstock removal program, including the compost facility. We tracked the number of head of livestock removed each year, the number of participating landowners, the average cost per head, and total program costs. We also used an online survey to assess participants' perspectives of the deadstock removal program and future needs. To date, the CACP has removed >5,400 livestock carcasses, representing between 15.1 and 22.6% of available carcasses in the program area, and 67.3% of livestock owners indicated they currently use the deadstock removal program to dispose of deadstock. Average cost to compost an animal was significantly less than other removal methods ($36.89 composting vs. $79.59 non-composting, one-tailed t-test, unequal sampling variances: t = 4.08, df = 5.87, p = 0.003). We conclude by discussing both ecological and social implications for deadstock removal as a conflict mitigation measure and make suggestions for future management considerations.