title: An interdisciplinary review of current and future approaches to improving human-predator relations.
abstract: In a world of shrinking habitats and increasing competition for natural resources, potentially dangerous predators bring the challenges of coexisting with wildlife sharply into focus. Through interdisciplinary collaboration among authors trained in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, we reviewed current approaches to mitigating adverse human-predator encounters and devised a vision for future approaches to understanding and mitigating such encounters. Limitations to current approaches to mitigation include too much focus on negative impacts; oversimplified equating of levels of damage with levels of conflict; and unsuccessful technical fixes resulting from failure to engage locals, address hidden costs, or understand cultural (nonscientific) explanations of the causality of attacks. An emerging interdisciplinary literature suggests that to better frame and successfully mitigate negative human-predator relations conservation professionals need to consider dispensing with conflict as the dominant framework for thinking about human-predator encounters; work out what conflicts are really about (they may be human-human conflicts); unravel the historical contexts of particular conflicts; and explore different cultural ways of thinking about animals. The idea of cosmopolitan natures may help conservation professionals think more clearly about human-predator relations in both local and global context. These new perspectives for future research practice include a recommendation for focused interdisciplinary research and the use of new approaches, including human-animal geography, multispecies ethnography, and approaches from the environmental humanities notably environmental history. Managers should think carefully about how they engage with local cultural beliefs about wildlife, work with all parties to agree on what constitutes good evidence, develop processes and methods to mitigate conflicts, and decide how to monitor and evaluate these. Demand for immediate solutions that benefit both conservation and development favors dispute resolution and technical fixes, which obscures important underlying drivers of conflicts. If these drivers are not considered, well-intentioned efforts focused on human-wildlife conflicts will fail.
authors: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, U.K., & Department of Geography, Environment and Development Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, 32 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, U.K.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Pooley
authors: School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, U.K., & Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HD, U.K.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Barua
authors: African Studies Centre, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, 13 Bevington Road, Oxford, OX2 6LH, U.K.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Beinart
authors: WildCRU, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, OX13 5QL, U.K.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Dickman
authors: Critical Environmental Social Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Holmes
authors: School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, U.K.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Lorimer
authors: African Studies Centre, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, 13 Bevington Road, Oxford, OX2 6LH, U.K.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Loveridge
authors: African Studies Centre, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, 13 Bevington Road, Oxford, OX2 6LH, U.K.
authors: D W
authors: DW
authors: Macdonald
authors: Anthropology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, Erasmus House, Roehampton Lane, London, SW15 5PU, U.K.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Marvin
authors: Institute of Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, U.K.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Redpath
authors: African Studies Centre, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, 13 Bevington Road, Oxford, OX2 6LH, U.K.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Sillero-Zubiri
authors: Conservation Science Department, Chester Zoo, Caughall Road, Upton-by-Chester, CH2 1LH, U.K., & WildCRU, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, OX13 5QL, U.K.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Zimmermann
authors: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, U.K.
authors: E J
authors: EJ
authors: Milner-Gulland
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D011235:Predatory Behavior
keywords: conflicto humano - vida silvestre; conservation management; depredadores; human-wildlife conflict; interdisciplinary research; investigación interdisciplinaria; manejo de la conservación; predators