An interdisciplinary conception of human-wildlife coexistence

Abstract

Human-wildlife coexistence is a pressing worldwide concern with significant impacts on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Despite the growing interest in coexistence research and practice, recent analytical attention remains fragmented, inconsistent, and of questionable practical use. To address this, we draw on the integrative framework of policy sciences to clarify coexistence concepts. The term “coexistence” is currently used with various interpretations, such as a desirable state, a factual occurrence, or a conservation approach. We adopt the classical ecological definition of coexistence and view human-wildlife coexistence as a multispecies social process that involves diverse interactions between human and non-human actors. We propose a typology of coexistence that can be applied to human-wildlife and human-human interactions across different contexts. We categorize the factors that condition coexistence into two groups: the behavioral predispositions of actors, which we conceptualize as a physical-physiological-psychological complex, and the environmental circumstances of interactions, which we conceptualize as a natural-social-cultural nexus. These interactions involved in coexistence are characterized by impermanence and inter-determination. We use the example of human-snow leopard interactions on the Tibetan Plateau in China to illustrate our points. To better understand and address coexistence challenges, we recommend that conservationists take an integrative approach that is problem-oriented, contextual, self-reflective, and multi-method.