Abstract
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) induce considerable crop damage risks, shocks and stresses on subsistence farmers at the wildlife-agriculture interface. In this study, we explored the social dimensions of human-elephant interactions in the wildlife-agrarian landscape. The study aimed at unraveling the associated hazardous conditions and nature of the subsistence farmers’ social vulnerability and practices with respect to elephant crop damage, subsistence farmers’ livelihoods, and elephant conservation. Applying qualitative thematic content analysis, the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) and additive generalized linear models (GLMs), this study revealed that the status of relational social capital influences human-elephant conflict (HEC) management and subsistence farmers’ responses, regardless of the farmers’ social learning and environmental values about the social-ecological system. The strengthening of multiple local stakeholder participation, institutional governance and access to livelihoods assets are needed for human food security and elephant conservation. Adoption of more effective nuanced crop protection counter-measures against elephants at farm level is urgently needed.
Highlights
Wildlife conservation conflicts arise when people are affected by the enforcement or non-enforcement of conservation measures such as rules, regulations and laws [1]
This study addresses the research question: what are the elephant crop damage-related social vulnerability factors experienced by subsistence farmers?
The study was conducted in March–May, 2016 in the Lupande Game Management Area (GMA) (4840 km2) in the Luangwa Valley, eastern Zambia (Figure 1)
Summary
Wildlife conservation conflicts arise when people are affected by the enforcement or non-enforcement of conservation measures such as rules, regulations and laws [1]. Conservation conflicts represent underlying disagreements among people, which need to be addressed to support human well-being and biodiversity conservation [2]. As conservation conflicts negatively impact on humans and wildlife, several conservation organizations seek urgent solutions to manage the increasing wildlife conservation conflicts (e.g., [5,6,7]). The interventions include those that target the management of human-wildlife conflicts (HWCs), largely involving human behaviors [8]. Human-elephant conflicts (HECs) have potential to cause considerable food insecurity to the affected farmers through crop damage by elephants [10]
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