Desert-adapted lions on communal land: Surveying the costs incurred by, and perspectives of, communal-area livestock owners in northwest Namibia

Abstract

Though subsistence pastoralism is the primary land-use throughout much of Africa, lions (Panthera leo) living outside protected areas are largely overlooked in discussions of pan-African lion conservation. In northwest Namibia, a unique population of desert-adapted lions has grown by >400% over the past twenty years. This growth has primarily taken-place upon communal conservancy land. Human-caused lion mortality following human-lion conflict (HLC) is now the primary direct threat to the persistence of these lions. HLC exacerbates challenges faced by pastoralists from an ongoing drought. Our survey is the first-ever attempt to quantitatively and qualitatively examine local pastoralists' perceptions of the desert-adapted lions and the impacts of living with lions in northwest Namibia. Results show that losses, due to drought and lions, are differentiated by livestock species and that the magnitude of livestock losses during the drought has been exacerbated by predation. Respondents in different conservancies reported different levels of hostility towards lions. Across all conservancies, though 83.9% do not benefit from living with lions, 75.9% state that it is important to continue to share communal land with lions. We discuss the cultural and livelihood effects of livestock losses as well as the implications of balancing the costs and benefits of living with lions for lion conservation.