Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence

Abstract

As a particular kind of human-animal relationship, “human-wildlife conflict” (HWC) emerged as a field of study in the late 1990s and has experienced rapid development since around 2005. The term encapsulates a variety of negative interactions between people and wildlife species from diverse taxonomic groups: in particular, large carnivores and elephants. Since 2000, numerous scientific publications on the topic have been published. Most studies are applied research and have been driven by conservation biologists seeking to develop knowledge for problem solving. Major research topics include trends and patterns of conflicts and their determinants, spatial risk modeling and prediction, and evaluation of the effectiveness of technical solutions. Also, numerous studies have attended to local attitudes and perceptions toward conflicts and the animal species involved. Many researchers have noted the entanglement between human-wildlife conflicts and human-human conflicts. Thus, a growing body of literature applies social science research methods to understand the socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts in which human-wildlife conflicts are embedded. Likewise, studies have started to address HWC management as an issue of governance. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in replacing the narrative of “human-wildlife conflict” with one of “human-wildlife coexistence” in both academic and public discourses. Nevertheless, there remain important issues concerning the conceptualization of what “conflict” and “coexistence” are.