Community-Based Conservation for the Sustainable Management of Conservation Conflicts: Learning from Practitioners

Juliette Claire Young,Deepshikha Sharma,Ranjini Murali,Benazir Kabaeva,Tserennadmid Nadia Mijiddorj,Ajay Bijoor,Ali Nawaz,Hussain Ali,Bayarjargal Agvaantseren,Shafiqullah Khan,Koustubh Sharma,Jennifer Snell Rullman,Justine Shanti Alexander,Venera Amankul,Kubanych Jumabay,Abhijit Dutta,Charudutt Mishra

doi:10.3390/su13147557

Abstract

We explore the role of community-based conservation (CBC) in the sustainable management of conservation conflicts by examining the experiences of conservation practitioners trying to address conflicts between snow leopard conservation and pastoralism in Asian mountains. Practitioner experiences are examined through the lens of the PARTNERS principles for CBC (Presence, Aptness, Respect, Transparency, Negotiation, Empathy, Responsiveness, and Strategic Support) that represent an inclusive conservation framework for effective and ethical engagement with local communities. Case studies from India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Pakistan show that resilient relationships arising from respectful engagement and negotiation with local communities can provide a strong platform for robust conflict management. We highlight the heuristic value of documenting practitioner experiences in on-the-ground conflict management and community-based conservation efforts.

Highlights

Negative interactions between humans and wildlife, often termed as ‘conflicts’, represent a major conservation challenge [1,2,3]
This paper, based on direct narratives from conservation practitioners, provides insights on some of the conditions needed for long-term conflict management
The need to encompass the range of PARTNERS principles in community-based conservation efforts, as they work together as seen in the narratives: presence builds empathy and respect, and leads to greater responsiveness and aptness of solutions through negotiation of interventions that benefit from wider strategic support

Summary

Introduction

Negative interactions between humans and wildlife, often termed as ‘conflicts’, represent a major conservation challenge [1,2,3]. Landscapes or habitats where people and large carnivores share space are often the sites of such interactions [4,5,6]. Both wildlife and human communities tend to be impacted by negative interactions such as wildlife-caused damage to property, crops, livestock, or even human lives in extreme situations [7]. Local pastoral communities can face heavy burdens of co-existing with wild carnivores due to livestock depredation, with subsequent impacts on livelihoods and wellbeing [8,9,10,11].

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