Conservation conflicts in the context of protected areas in Ghana and Germany: commonalities, differences and lessons for conflict analysis and management

Abstract

Conflicts between humans about wildlife, sometimes also referred to as conservation conflicts, are a challenging issue all over the world. Comparing conservation conflicts from different settings helps to better understand general strategies for conflict management and provides opportunities for mutual learning to solve conservation conflicts. This paper analyses commonalities and differences of conservation conflicts in one Ghanaian and three German national parks, and discusses lessons and implications for conflict management. Using the social-ecological system framework and social conflict theory, we conducted focus groups and interviews with relevant actors, collected secondary sources of information and conducted a qualitative content analysis. Results describe resource systems, resource units, governance systems, and actors. Conflict issues identified for both cases revolve around wildlife populations and wildlife impacts, disagreements about conservation, hunting, disputes among actors, as well as issues of inadequate involvement of actors. Results further indicate that similar drivers such as contrary values, different interests, structural problems, legislative issues and inadequate involvement contribute to conflict development. However, the contexts of the case studies within which these conflicts develop, basically differ. From our findings, we developed both general as well as case-specific management principles necessary for conflict management. The paper concludes that root causes of conflict emergence and social processes should be addressed to facilitate conflict management. If appropriate general and case-specific instruments are chosen, a solution to conservation conflicts can be possible.