Perception and Attitudes of Local Communities Towards Wild Elephant-related Problems and Conservation in Xishuangbanna, Southwestern China

The problem of wild elephants, or human-elephant conflict （HEC）, influences the daily life of local communities and hinders the conservation of wild elephants. The perception and attitudes of local communities who inhabited the frontiers between human activities and wild elephant movement are import...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChinese geographical science Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 629 - 636
Main Authors He, Qingcheng, Wu, Zhaolu, Zhou, Wai, Dong, Rui
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Heidelberg SP Science Press 01.10.2011
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Attitudes
Community involvement
conflicts
Conservation
Earth and Environmental Science
Education
Elephantidae
Elephants
Geography
Human factors
Local communities
mitigation
Perception
Perceptions
villages
Wildlife conservation
中国西南
养护
参与式农村评估
大象
感知
社区
西双版纳
野生
China
China, People's Rep., Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna
China, People's Rep
local community
Xishuangbanna
participatory rural appraisal (PRA)
human-elephant conflict (HEC)
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Summary:The problem of wild elephants, or human-elephant conflict （HEC）, influences the daily life of local communities and hinders the conservation of wild elephants. The perception and attitudes of local communities who inhabited the frontiers between human activities and wild elephant movement are important to the mitigation of the HEC and conservation of wild elephants. To analyze the perception and attitudes of local communities, the Participatory Rural Appraisal （PRA） was used in the investigation of 423 interviewees from 22 villages in Xishuangbanna from July 2009 to February 2010. The results indicated that local communities had their views on the elephant-related problems. In field survey, we found that 66.5% of interviewees were willing to support, participate in, and assist in the conservation of wild elephants; 33.5% of interviewees were opposed or indifferent to such conservation, because their livelihoods and even their lives were endangered by wild elephants. These views and attitudes were influenced by local communities＇ perception of HEC, education level, gender and self-interest. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the diverse views among local communities and balance profits and costs in addressing HEC.
Bibliography:The problem of wild elephants, or human-elephant conflict （HEC）, influences the daily life of local communities and hinders the conservation of wild elephants. The perception and attitudes of local communities who inhabited the frontiers between human activities and wild elephant movement are important to the mitigation of the HEC and conservation of wild elephants. To analyze the perception and attitudes of local communities, the Participatory Rural Appraisal （PRA） was used in the investigation of 423 interviewees from 22 villages in Xishuangbanna from July 2009 to February 2010. The results indicated that local communities had their views on the elephant-related problems. In field survey, we found that 66.5% of interviewees were willing to support, participate in, and assist in the conservation of wild elephants; 33.5% of interviewees were opposed or indifferent to such conservation, because their livelihoods and even their lives were endangered by wild elephants. These views and attitudes were influenced by local communities＇ perception of HEC, education level, gender and self-interest. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the diverse views among local communities and balance profits and costs in addressing HEC.
22-1174/P
human-elephant conflict （HEC）; local community; participatory rural appraisal （PRA）; Xishuangbanna
ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:1002-0063
1993-064X
DOI:10.1007/s11769-011-0499-4