Abstract
Wolf populations are recovering across Europe and readily recolonize most areas where humans allow their presence. Reintegrating wolves in human-dominated landscapes is a major challenge, particularly in places where memories and experience of coexistence have been lost. Despite the observed expansion trends, little has been done to prepare communities for the return of these apex predators, or to understand what fosters and perpetuates coexistence. In this study, we present a theoretical framework for resilient coexistence based on four conditions: Effective institutions, large carnivore persistence, social legitimacy, and low levels of risk and vulnerability, nested within the social-ecological systems (SES) concept. To empirically show how the conditions can be manifested and interconnected, and how this knowledge could be used to improve local coexistence capacities, the framework is applied in a case study of human–wolf relations in Spain. We examined three traditionally pastoral landscapes at different states of cohabitation with wolves: uninterrupted presence, recent recolonization, and imminent return. We found that both the perceptions of wolves and the capacity to coexist with them diverged across these states, and that this was largely determined by a diversity of vulnerabilities that have not been recognized or addressed within current management regimes, such as economic precarity and weak legitimacy for governing institutions. Our results illustrate the importance of working in close contact with communities to understand local needs and enhance adaptive capacities in the face of rural transitions, beyond those directly related to wolves. The framework complements emerging tools for coexistence developed by researchers and practitioners, which offer guidance on the process of situational analysis, planning, and resource allocation needed to balance large carnivore conservation with local livelihoods.
Highlights
Current plans for socio-ecological transitions, such as the EU biodiversity strategy (The European Commission., 2020) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNEP., 2019), call for new ways of thinking about how humans and wildlife might share space
In response to calls for in-depth research on coexistence (Carter and Linnell, 2016; Pooley et al, 2020), we explore the conditions that influence human–wolf relations in traditional pastoral landscapes, focusing on the factors that enable coexistence
We present a theoretical framework of resilient coexistence, and apply it to human–wolf relations in three rural communities in Spain that are at different states of coexistence with wolves; uninterrupted presence, recent recolonization, and imminent return
Summary
Current plans for socio-ecological transitions, such as the EU biodiversity strategy (The European Commission., 2020) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNEP., 2019), call for new ways of thinking about how humans and wildlife might share space. While research has revealed the causes and components of dysfunctional HCRs, mostly through the lens of human-wildlife conflicts, there are fewer studies on what constitutes functioning human-carnivore coexistence (Lozano et al, 2019; Pooley et al, 2020). This could give the impression that conflict is a dominant and inevitable outcome of living with large carnivores, rather than one of multiple possible and often simultaneous relations (Peterson et al, 2010; Rode et al, 2021). Identification and amplification of functioning HCRs could greatly benefit conservation agendas, by providing effective and optimistic messages and examples (Madden, 2004; Bennett et al, 2015)
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