Land Use and Ecosystem Services Conflicts

ACES 2011: Conservation Conflicts: strategies for coping with a changing world. Aberdeen Arts Centre, August 22-25th

ABSTRACTS

Monday 22ndAugust 2011

Case studies:

–Protected area conflicts

–Land use and ecosystem services conflicts

–Species conflicts

Protected Area Conflicts

14.00 – 14.20 Protected Area conflicts: examples between wildlife conservation, pastoralism and hunting in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Karen Laurenson

The Serengeti Ecosystem, encompassing a matrix of protected areas and the SerengetiNational Park at its core, is an area of global conservation significance generating well over $30 million USD per year in revenue for Tanzania. Many levels of conflict have existed in this ecosystem since the first protected areas were declared, but as human populations continue to grow, conflict over available land is exacerbated, and most acute in the Maasai pastoralist communities. Access to dry season cattle grazing land is a key determinant of livelihood status and the key source of conflict both within the communities and with other actors. A long history of conflict over access to land designated for wildlife, sport hunting or tourism, combined with vocal local interest groups and NGOs, has both led to inter-clan conflict over competition for revenue generated from wildlife use, and also bolstered enmity towards conservation initiatives from Government or NGOs among pastoral communities in the Loliondo area. As a result, resistance to participate in conservation schemes such as community-managed wildlife management areas (WMAs) has also led to insecure land tenure, fueled inter-clan disputes, and increased rate of land conversion. A severe drought in 2009 culminated in more severe conflict between pastoralists and wildlife users, but also resulted in an increased appreciation for conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services such as water catchment forests and dry-season grazing land, and widespread shift in public opinion of the value of community-managed wildlife areas. Dennis Rentsch, Gerald Bigurube, Markus Borner, Grant Hopcraft and Karen Laurenson

Karen Laurenson is a Programme Manager with the Africa Programme of Frankfurt Zoological Society. Following doctoral research on cheetah ecology in the Serengeti, she worked at the interface of disease transmission between domestic and wild animals in Scotland and Ethiopia, with a particularly interest in applied research on conservation and economic issues. In the last decade, based in Tanzania, Scotland and Ethiopia, she has worked in ecosystem management, overseeing complex donor-funded projects and developed ecosystem planning processes, ecological monitoring and project monitoring and evaluation frameworks

14.20 – 14.40 “Owning what is ours”: Protectionism, Insecurity and the Production of Vulnerability on the Edge of Mount Elgon National Park, Uganda

David Himmelfarb

Amidst the political and economic upheaval left in the wake of colonialism and subsequent structural adjustment policies, African governments have faced tremendous challenges as they seek to simultaneously strengthen governance and implement conservation initiatives. Under pressure by international conservation and development donors to both increase the area of land under strict environmental protection and to incorporate the economic needs of local communities into conservation interventions, state cervation bodies, which in many cases originated as para-military institutions, have often gravitated to the seemingly more straight-forward “fences and fines” approach to conservation. Nevertheless, vigorous law enforcement in contexts where thousands of people depend on protected resources has resulted in widespread conflict.
Despite scattered efforts to develop community-based conservation initiatives in Uganda, a philosophy of strict protectionism has undergirded the proliferation of protected areas. Beneath the veneer of recent community resource use agreements and revenue sharing, the protectionist approach and concomitant population displacement have had severe repercussions for the livelihoods of rural communities dwelling in and on the boundaries of protected areas. On the northern edge of Mt. Elgon National Park, Uganda, conflict between protected area managers and local communities has raged for nearly 30 years, culminating in sporadic violence and a sustained legal battle over land rights. Focusing on the history and nature of this conflict, this paper examines the development of the protectionist conservation paradigm in the West, it’s application to Uganda during the colonial era, and the implications this continued approach has had for contemporary livelihoods and environments. This paper suggests that exclusionary park policies coupled with tenure insecurity over the past three decades has exacerbated livelihood vulnerability while intensifying the processes of environmental degradation that such policies seek to counteract. Sustained insecurity and the withholding of social services fostered by protected managers has provoked local resistance and generated an unsustainable, “use-it-or-lose-it” mindset among farmers, who refuse to invest in time- and labour-intensive measures for fear of eviction and dispossession. This paper argues that addressing “encroachment” in Mt.ElgonNational Park necessitates addressing underlying structural inequalities established and perpetuated by the state and its international donors.

14.40 – 15.00 Conflict resolution between lions and livestock ranches around major national parks in southern Africa

Paul Funston, Sam Ferreira and Nimmi Seoraj Pillai

The relative risk to populations of large carnivores in protected areas is generally correlated with the size of the protected area relative to the home range requirements of the species. Lions (Panthera leo) have widely varying home range sizes in southern Africa that broadly follow annual rainfall, and thus ungulate biomass, patterns. Here data is presented on the risk of persecution relative to factors including home range size, boundary type, and various livestock husbandry practices around a few major protected areas in southern Africa. The relative contribution of fencing to minimizing conflict is investigated, with various fencing scenarios from no fences to relative impervious fences being discussed. Clearly one of the key factors determining both the probability of livestock depredation or carnivore persecution is the probability that a large carnivore will come into contact with either livestock or a humans during excursions or forays outside of protected areas. We argue that these relationships can be modelled both spatially and temporally to determine a landscape of relative risk. The spatial and temporal pattern of movement of stock raiding lions and leopards (Panthera pardus) is presented and evaluated with respect to probability of risk. These risk factors could be used proactively to mitigate conflict as opposed to the traditional reactive approaches employed by most conservation authorities or farmers/pastoralists. Various conflict mitigation strategies include the translocation and release of stock raiding lions. This practice is evaluated both spatially and temporally, with long term consequences of management interventions evaluated in terms of their effect on lion population structure and longevity. The value of liaison and communication with neighbours is evaluated and stressed.

15.00 – 15.20 Reducing conflicts by modifying the boundaries of protected areas: a systematic conservation planning approach from Mozambique

Robert Smith, Kristian Metcalfe, Bartolomeu Soto, Alessandro Fusari and Cornelio Ntumi

Land-use planning plays a fundamental role in reducing conservation conflicts and this is particularly relevant when designing protected area (PA) networks. Many PAs were established without accounting for local socio-economic and social factors, so there is a need to modify these systems to reduce impacts on people and help fulfil conservation objectives. Here we describe a case study from southern Africa, where the Government of Mozambique has proposed modifying the boundaries of some of the existing PAs located in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. These PAs were generally established in the colonial era and contain several villages within their borders, so the government is investigating whether this settled land could be exchanged for other areas outside existing designated land. To help inform this process we developed a conservation planning system containing data on 57 vegetation types and 18 species, as well as data on opportunity costs and land tenure. This system was based on the best available information but data quality varied, which added uncertainty to the planning process. In response, we developed three methodologies for informing this PA modification process, which make different assumptions about data quality and provide information at different spatial scales. We show there is great potential for modifying these PAs, assuming support from local stakeholders, and argue that the systematic conservation planning approach is highly appropriate for this type of analysis.

Land Use and Ecosystem Services Conflicts

14.00 – 14.20 Conflicts and NATURA 2000

Juliette Young

Natura 2000 is the largest network of protected areas in the world, covering over 17% of the European Union’s territory. In order to be successful, the network needs the active involvement of people who live and depend on these protected areas. The top-down selection of sites, combined with poor communication of the Natura 2000 aims, concerns from local people and conservationists and a lack of formal requirement for local actor involvement has resulted in social conflicts associated with Natura 2000, and subsequent delays in its implementation.

This paper will start with a brief overview of Natura 2000 and some of the conflicts associated with the Habitats Directives. The paper will then explore the extent to which local actors are involved in the management of Natura 2000 using results from three selected sites in Scotland. Finally, the issue of whether increased involvement may benefit the policy aims of Natura 2000 will be discussed.

Juliette Young is an ecologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Edinburgh. Her main research interest is biodiversity policy, from its development to its implementation, including associated conflicts. Within this context, she is interested in understanding public attitudes towards biodiversity, including views on biodiversity management, conservation measures and the values associated with biodiversity through the use of qualitative and quantitative methods. She is also interested in understanding the barriers to effective communication of science to the public and policy-makers and the role of interfaces between policy-makers and scientists.

14.20 – 14.40 Understanding Human Wildlife Conflict in Areas Adjacent to National Parks and Conservancies: A Case Study of Mbire, Chiredzi and Hwange Districts in Zimbabwe

Sébastien Le Bel, George Mapuvire and Rene Czudek

Human-wildlife conflict is a growing global problem. It is not restricted to a particular geographical region or climate condition, but is common to all areas where wildlife and human populations coexist and share limited resources. Human-wildlife conflict is a problem for farmers, and ultimately it must be tackled by the farmers themselves. However, although numerous research articles, reports, recommendations, guidelines and training manuals have been produced in recent years to address the problem, most have been aimed at technical support agencies, government wildlife departments, and conservation and/or development oriented non-governmental organizations. Few tools have been developed for and adopted by rural farmers and communities to help them to address human wildlife conflicts at grass roots level. In Southern Africa, FAO and Bio-Hub have teamed up to develop a handy toolkit designed for use by extensionists offering to local communities a range of simple and practical solutions that can have great success when used in combination. It is designed not only to help protect people, their livestock and their crops from wild animals but, just as important, to safeguard wild animals from people. Two types of toolkit, an electronic and a hard version, are available in three languages: English, Portuguese and French. The hard version is a rubber canvas bag containing a series of water proof booklets, helping users to define which kind of conflict they are facing. Solutions vary according to whether the need is to protect people, villages, livestock, water or crops and are classified in five colour-coded categories: awareness raising in blue, access prevention in green, translocation in brown, driving animals away in yellow and as a last resort lethal control in red. A system of index identifies solutions in each of the five colour categories according to what it is the user needs to protect. In total, more than one thousand toolkits were distributed during the workshops for field tests with local communities in Botswana, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The toolkit is designed in a way that more information can be added or slotted in and this exercise is an own going one, meaning for the next years to come, funding permitting, the toolkit will be reviewed and added with more information.

14.40 – 15.00 Ecosystem Service: tool(s) for understanding land-use conflicts

Agnes Kaloczkai and Eszter Kelemen

This paper seeks to explain the first results of a conflict resolution process dealing with a land-use conflict in Kiskunság, Central Hungary. Since nature protection has been institutionalized, beside the positive effects, its existence caused social and land-use conflicts in many times (McNeely 1995). Conflicts between local stakeholders (mainly farmers) concerned by the protected areas and the National Park Directorate can be caused by cultural differences, emotional reasons or communication barriers (Stoll-Kleemann 2001), but in many times the sources of the problems could be the dissenting opinions about the importance or value of a given ecosystem service. The variety of processes developed for ecosystem services valuation have been considered important mostly for supportingdecision-making processes and solving management problems (Fisher et al. 2009). In our opinion, the analysis of ecosystem services from the perspectives of the different stakeholder groups could explain arising social problems related to nature conservation and land use. Our aim is to resolve the conflicts between nature conservationists and farmers emerged from the disagreement about the importance and values attached to ecosystem services. In the first part of the four-year research, started in 2009, qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews, focus groups) were used to identify the roots of the conflicts. Following interviews participatory process (community planning through scenario workshops) will be initiated to find solutions which are able to bring closer the perceptions of local actors about the ecosystem services.

15.00 – 15.20 The dynamics of cash cropping, culture and conflict in Kahua, Solomon Islands

Jasper Kenter , Ioan Fazey and Tammy Davies

This paper reports on analyses of the complex dynamics between resource use, aid delivery, cash cropping, culture and conflict in Kahua, a remote region of the Solomon Islands, and their implications for trajectories of vulnerability to global change. Local perceptions of change and its drivers were elicited using an extensive participatory approach that included developing conceptual models of the underlying feedback processes within the Kahua social-ecological system. Most changes were being driven by a small number of key drivers including population growth and desire for economic prosperity. These drivers were found to be acting synergistically in combination with increasing opportunities for income generation through cash cropping to decrease social cohesion and increase conflict over resources. Together, the complex dynamics suggest that the system’s trajectory is moving towards greater conflict and vulnerability to future change. Research into ecosystem service trade-offs illustrated the perceived impacts of cash cropping in more detail. These included deforestation and a decrease in food security; privatisation of common land; increased work burden, particularly for women; increased inequality; erosion of traditional culture and loss of social cohesion. Though cash cropping is encouraged by aid agencies, the apparent significant reduction of social, cultural and natural capital associated with increased cash crop cultivation suggests major implications for long-term local sustainability. While the situation is complex, there are some opportunities for social-ecological transformation. These include the recent establishment of a grass roots organisation that can act as a bridging organisation across governance scales, including facilitating cross-community action. However, the grass roots organisation faces significant challenges, including limited financial and human capital. This case study therefore highlights that focussing on understanding and reducing the ultimate causes is an essential requirement of addressing conservation conflicts.

15.20 – 15.40 Wilderness conservation, politics and Chitsa settlers in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe

Sebastien Le Bel

The vision of pristine wildernesses was, and still is, central to the creation and maintenance of national parks in Zimbabwe and beyond.Proponents of national parks point to the potential of pristine parks to not only conserve biodiversity and avert the extinction of endangered species but also to generate foreign currency, employment and incomes from tourism and to alleviate rural poverty.This is the promise that national and transfrontier parks hold for state and non-state stakeholders.This vision has come up against a competing small-farm first policy narrative whose advocates see it as the best way to meet both growth and equity objectives.This line of argument chimes with the farming interests of rural households.Based on primary research and the review of secondary literature, this article uses the case of Chitsa settlers in GonarezhouNational Park to explore the implications of these ideas.The article examines how the translation into practice of these competing policy narratives has been mired in sectoral agendas and power politics that, for better or worse, interlock with the livelihood interests of the settlers.Chitsa settlers’ contestations centre on accessing ancestral land and using natural resources to sustain their livelihoods and socio-cultural identity.In this part of the park, the smallholder-farming narrative is holding sway and contextual forces and the specific constellation of institutional actor alliances have been critical in shaping relations between the settlers and the park.The paper contributes to understanding the intensely political nature of the interface between wilderness conservation and smallholder livelihoods in contemporary Zimbabwe.