Journal article

Social and ecological dimensions are needed to understand human-wildlife conflict in subsistence farming context

undefined Yeshey, RJ Keenan, RM Ford, CR Nitschke

People and Nature | WILEY | Published : 2024

Abstract

This study explores the social, economic and environmental dimensions of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in four districts of Bhutan. Looking beyond the common unidimensional approach to the evaluation of HWCs, it documents the multifaceted nature of HWCs through a social-ecological system (SES) lens. We carried out a mixed method analysis of HWC based on 96 interviews consisting of qualitative and quantitative data and eight focus group discussions conducted in four districts representing four regions of Bhutan. Our case study finding reveals that HWC scenarios are complex and there is spatial variation in both social and ecological factors that contribute to HWC. In some areas, ecological as..

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Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Melbourne Research Scholarship program granted by the University of Melbourne for providing funding support to the first author. The authors are grateful to all the participants involved in the household survey. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the Renewable Natural Resource staff of the four districts and eight Gewog for facilitating the field work. We are also grateful to our reviewers and associate editor for their insightful suggestions and comments.