You will find below diverse pasts webinars, talks and conferences about human-wildlife interactions to help learning and inspiring from each other beyond the borders.
The FAO-IUCN SSC HWC Task Force webinar series provides an opportunity to link theory of principles in HWC management with practical experience and insights from projects on the ground. This first webinar focused on key aspects of community engagement processes and ethics of engagement via a discussion of three case studies from Guyana, India, and Tanzania.
Programme:
00:00–08:00 Introduction and welcome remarks, Dr Alexandra Zimmermann (moderator), Chair of the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force
08:01 – 34:08 Brief case presentations – Dr Nathalie van Vliet, CIFOR (SWM Programme): “Reducing human-carnivore conflict through a participatory research approach”, Guyana – Dr Vidya Athreya, Wildlife Conservation Society-India: “Mumbaikers for Sanjay Gandhi National Park”, India – Dr Amy Dickman, Lion Landscapes: “Community camera trapping”, Tanzania
34:09 – 01:22:14 Moderated discussion and Q&A Panel: Dr Nathalie van Vliet, Dr Vidya Athreya, Dr Amy Dickman, Dr Jenny Glikman, Dr Sugoto Roy, Dr Juliette Young, Professor Catherine Hill
01:22:15 – 01:28:29 Closing summary
Since the early 2000’s, the IUCN Bear Specialist Group have partnered with 13 Karelian Bear Dogs (KBD’s) in Washington and Nevada for a variety of research, wildlife management, and enforcement applications. Our KBD programs started with a desire to: (1) be more self-sufficient in black bear (Ursus americanus) research activities; (2) be more effective when responding to human-wildlife conflicts; and (3) utilize a non-lethal aversive conditioning techniques and address the root cause of conflict when responding human-bear conflict situations. Specifically, our KBD partnerships assist us with tracking and radio-collaring efforts for agency research projects, finding injured and orphaned wildlife, resolving human-wildlife conflict, public outreach and education, and finding remains of illegally taken wildlife. In addition to these wildlife applications, KBDs provide us with an extremely effective means of communicating with the public on conflict prevention and messaging.
The event will look at how LIFE WOLFALPS EU is promoting coexistence between humans and wolves. It will also take stock of the Alpine wolf population and outline the project’s progress, which brings together 20 partners in four EU countries.
The Conference was held in English with simultaneous translation in German, Italian, French and Slovenian (registration required).
Antoinette van de Water (Bring The Elephant Home, Project Dragonfly-Miami University alum) conducts research on sustainable solutions for human-elephant coexistence. In a study under the supervision of Future For Nature winner Dr. Lucy King, she looked into reducing conflict between elephants and farmers by using bees to improve the effectiveness of fences. Together with the Phuluang Wildlife Research Station, she has collected a large amount of camera trap data capturing elephant behavior near a beehive fence in Thailand. Hosted by the Future of Nature Academy and Miami University’s Project Dragonfly, a collective of international elephant researchers present the new publication “Beehive fences as a sustainable local solution for human-elephant conflicts in Thailand” and other innovative elephant conservation projects.
In this webinar they looked at the topic of human-wildlife conflict and how they move to a point of coexistence, considering some lessons learnt that can inform our planning work. They considered how they might apply the same rigor to modelling human behavior as they do to the wildlife populations they are concerned with conserving. Through this modelling they can begin to identify leverage points where they can direct interventions to influence the system in a desired direction of change.
Speakers: Mr. Ranjeet Jadhav and Mr. Virat Singh, Moderator: Dr. Vidya Athreya, WCS-India
Ranjeet Jadhav has been covering Wildlife & Environment Beat along with Infrastructure beat for Mid-Day newspaper since 2009. Before that, he worked with the Free Press Journal for 2 years and reported on crime beat / politics and infrastructure. Virat Singh is a Communication Strategist with a development startup. He has worked as a journalist writing on wildlife and environment for 14 years.
In this presentation, Mark “Butch” Butcher, Managing Director and founder of Imvelo Safari Lodges, will impart the lessons learned on the front lines of the human-wildlife conflict in Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. He will also illustrate the critical connection between communities and tourists in the long-term health of Africa’s wild places. Butch’s lifelong passion for Hwange – it’s elephants, wildlife and communities – forms the cornerstone of Imvelo Safari Lodges’ ethos and mission today.
In this talk, zoologist Lucy King shares her initiative to turn negative to positive interactions between elephants and farmers: fences made from beehives that keep elephants at bay while also helping farmers establish new livelihoods.
