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Communities, cats & camera-traps
Reducing human-
carnivore conflict
in Tanzania’s
Ruaha landscape
Dr Amy Dickman
amy.dickman@zoo.ox.ac.uk
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Ruaha: ~8% world’s lions
Tanzania: 40% world’s lions
Lion numbers nearly halved in
20 years
Conflict a major threat: IWT
potentially growing
Ruaha: global hotspot for large carnivores, esp. lions
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Much of lion range on same land as very poor people
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Fundamental need to engage communities
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Fundamental need to engage communities
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Big cats are central to human culture
4 main drivers of conflict
Building relationship with community
revealed 4 key drivers of conflict &
killings:
- High costs of wildlife presence,
especially depredation
- Few or no benefits to offset costs,
particularly in most remote villages
- Cultural rewards for killing lions:
wealth, status and sex
- Little conservation awareness &
engagement
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Reducing costs: safeguarding livestock assets
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Reducing costs: safeguarding livestock assets
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Reducing costs: safeguarding livestock assets
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Community benefits: education, healthcare, vet
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Providing cultural value through lion conservation
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Raising local awareness & engagement
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Raising local awareness & engagement
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Linking community benefits to wildlife presence
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1000 points
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1500 points
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1000 + 1500 = 2500 points
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10,000 points
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15,000 points
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20,000 points
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340,000 points
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Points = extra health, education & vet benefits
Improves tolerance for wildlife on village land, less support for poaching/IWT
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Put local people at the heart of conservation
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Impacts so far: Depredation reduced by >60%
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Impacts so far: Carnivore killing reduced by >80%
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Wildlife now major driver of local development
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Big cats are central to human culture
Key lessons & thoughts for discussion
• Conflict is multi-layered: depredation most obvious complaint,
but runs much deeper – need to consider many diverse factors,
e.g. culture, religion, history with conservation etc
• Conflict resolution approaches must be driven by the needs of
the local community, not imposed externally
• Vitally important to provide benefits linked directly to presence
of wildlife, not presence of an organisation
• Culture can and does change quickly if it is in peoples’ interests
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Big cats are central to human culture
Key lessons & thoughts for discussion
• Ethical and moral issues abound! How much cost should local
communities bear for an international good, how do we make
that fair?
• Concerns that these approaches often rely on the poverty of
affected communities – conservation could be outcompeted if
all about economics
• Issues of sustainability frequently brought up – community
camera-trapping ~US$80,000 per year, project ~US$400,000
• However, I think that this is responsibility that should be met
by international donors/partners – local people already bearing
major opportunity & direct costs of wildlife
• No silver bullet, needs thorough understanding of local
situation to develop appropriate solutions – which themselves
need regular adaptation
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Thank you very much!
amy.dickman@zoo.ox.ac.uk
www.ruahacarnivoreproject.com
Sat that do ecological work, happy to talk to people about – but focus here on conservation work
2015 latest range estimate – areas in red are now extinct. Latest estimate probably around 20,000 lions
Mention main threats – habitat degredation, loss of prey, conflict with people
Tanzania most important country, holds 40% lions – Ruaha one of the most important populations, 10% all lions, second biggest in world
Those carnivore populations don’t just rely on Ruaha National Park, but also on village land to the south of the unfenced National Park.
That area supports some of the poorest communities in the world - 90% of villagers live on less than $2 per day and depend heavily on livestock – creates intense conflict
Communities depend heavily on livestock – creates intense conflict
Huge conservation issue - we recorded at least 39 lions killed in just 18 months just around the village we had set up our camp in
Noticed two things – many were heavily pregnant females (has a major impact) – also the majority had right front paw cut off
Over 2 years, all our attempts to engage the community failed. Considered giving up on working with Barabaig – and then installed solar panel! Started coming to camp to charge their mobile phones – started some form of communication
Need to remember to keep community needs, not our aims at goals, central for effective communication and programming
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
People really appreciated benefits, but to incentivise conservation, needed to link them specifically to wildlife presence
As part of our ecological work, do camera-trapping – trained and equipped the villagers to do it on village land, generates points for each individual animal camera-trapped, which they can collectively trade in for additional community benefits
Small herbivore – 1000 points
Monkeys and baboons – 1500 points
As part of our ecological work, do camera-trapping – done by villagers, generates points for them which they can trade in for additional community benefits
As part of our ecological work, do camera-trapping – done by villagers, generates points for them which they can trade in for additional community benefits
As part of our ecological work, do camera-trapping – done by villagers, generates points for them which they can trade in for additional community benefits
Wildlife now generating more benefits than any other local initiative – recognised by district Govt
Darem book – raising awareness, it is their assets and their story
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
The importance of big cats to people has been evident throughout history. The first figurative art was of a lion head on a human body, carved around 40,000 years ago from woolly mammoth ivory. Similarly, lions are well represented in cave art from as early as 32,000 years ago, where the lion behaviours drawn on French cave walls are immediately recognisable today.
In Ancient Egypt, Sehkmet, the goddess of war and of healing, had the head of a lion to represent the most powerful animal that people knew.
