How does conservation land tenure affect economic impacts of wildlife: An analysis of subsistence farmers and herders in Bhutan

Abstract

Protected areas (PA) to conserve wildlife are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation but they can also result in increased human-wildlife conflict (HWC), which poses a serious challenge to jointly achieving sustainable development goals of food security and biodiversity conservation, particular in regions with high conservation values and subsistence farmers. In the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, expanding PAs and other conservation efforts have led to increased wildlife populations that are causing more damage to crop and livestock and impacting on the livelihoods of subsistence farmers and herders. In this study, we used a social-ecological systems framework to quantify the intensity t..