Sri Lanka: Rich in biodiversity, and human-wildlife conflict

Themes: Conservation, Poverty, Poaching

- Human-wildlife encounters have increased rapidly in recent years and go beyond elephants and leopards. Competition has grown over the shared space between humans and wildlife due to encroachment, deforestation, habitat degradation, and climate change, putting humans and animals in conflict over land, water and resources. Humans often clash with macaques and langurs as the monkeys are attracted by garbage, are being fed or try to find new habitats due to deforestation. Peafowl are emerging as top agricultural pests due to their expanding range and distribution over the last decade. - Crocodile attacks mainly affect poorer communities that are dependent on unsafe bodies of water, and they often lack awareness of the animals’ behavior. - There is an urgent need to increase awareness around human-wildlife conflict and crop foraging as well as to employ non-violent mitigation measures that take into account the interests of both humans and animals, including fences, garbage management and habitat conservation.

View from the Termite Mound

Themes: Human rights, Indigenous people, Parks, Pastoralists, Conservation

Scattered, Scarce, and Delayed Reports While Waiting for Action against the Genocidal MLUM Proposal in Ngorongoro

The Achilles Heel of Conservation -

Conservation is not yet inclusive, considerate and attuned to the black African experience

Themes: Conservation

Conservation globally is a challenging battle. Movements against climate change, plastic pollution and deforestation in the Amazon are on the rise. So to are ground-breaking research and futuristic interventions, and yet the natural world is burning. Nowhere else is this more evident and an uphill battle than in Africa and this is why.

Dossier: hunting and human-wildlife conflict.

Hunting is a topic that attracts polarised viewpoints. But as Mark Rowe demonstrates, when it comes to limiting human-wildlife conflict and to wider conservation measures, it’s not always so simple.

Themes: Conservation, Pastoralists, Poaching, Parks, Indigenous people, NGOs, Hunting

Mention ‘hunting’ and most of us think of poaching – primarily for ivory and the demands of Chinese medicine – or trophy hunting (see maps below); and the unpalatable image of a triumphant (usually) white Westerner straddling a dead, charismatic mammal. But the issue is a much wider and more nuanced one.

Pastoralists into New Round of Negotiations with those who Want to Wipe them off the Map of Ngorongoro

Themes: Conservation, FPIC, Indigenous people, Human rights, Parks, Pastoralists

This blog has been too silent. I’m very sad and tired, and in Loliondo, and Ngorongoro district as a whole, people have been busy discussing Covid-19, or “politics” (possible candidates, and I’m not innocent in this regard, even if my main interest is in who will best defend the land), while the biggest threat ever looms over everyone’s head – the insane Multiple Land Use Model report of last year. This threat has again been spoken about, and there’s a new attempt to, from the inside, stop planned atrocities.

Most laws ignore human-wildlife conflict—this makes us vulnerable to pandemics.

Themes: Conservation, Indigenous people, Poaching, Poverty, CBD

Never before have we seen how the human use of wildlife can yield such catastrophe, as we have with COVID-19.

Periyar Tiger Reserve.

A Trendsetter in Converting Poachers to Protectors

Themes: Conservation, Poverty, Poaching, NGOs, Indigenous people, Parks

Then a range forest officer with Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Kerala, Raju K. Francis still remembers that distant afternoon in 1994, when he arrested elusive forest brigand Aruvi from a hideout near an ancient cave in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, where local gangs used to hide smuggled sandalwood. Aruvi was the leader of a 23-member team of wildlife poachers and sandalwood smugglers operating from K.G. Patti, Varusanadu and Lower Gudalur regions of Theni, which were around 20 kilometres from PTR.

Cornered by PAs:

Adopting rights-based approaches to enable cost-effective conservation and climate action

Themes: CBD, Conservation, Indigenous people, Parks, Poverty

Progress on many commitments made in past decades to respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples in conservation is too limited. Rights violations affect IPs culture, well-being, livelihoods, and security without evidence of resulting conservation outcomes. Protected Areas Financing is limited and heavily public spending, not support of Indigenous and community conservation. Regular global monitoring of progress and access to grievance are key to accelerate progress or secure conservation outcomes.