Who’s in Conflict with Whom? Human Dimensions of the Conflicts Involving Wildlife

Abstract

Some of the most high-profile wildlife conservation cases in the world have been addressed within the emerging field of human–wildlife conflict (HWC). Although HWC is often defined as any situation where wildlife comes into conflict with humans over common resources, the term HWC has been applied almost exclusively to cases involving charismatic mega-fauna, such as large-bodied herbivores and top predators. What these animals have in common is not the magnitude of the damage they cause or their conservation status, but their power to elicit strong mixed opinions among broad sectors of society, which often results in clashes between groups of people who hold differing values toward these animals and their management. As society becomes more diversified and people hold more varied views on human domination over nature, conflicts involving wildlife will grow in intensity and frequency. In this chapter, I discuss the importance of the human dimensions perspective for effectively understanding and resolving HWC; an approach that goes beyond the traditional ecological and economic considerations about reciprocal negative impacts, by addressing also the complexity of the causal relationship between wildlife damage and human thoughts and actions toward wildlife, and the disagreements between people over wildlife values and management objectives.