Environmental change, human wellbeing, and wildlife conflict: Using remotely-sensed data to examine the impacts of protected areas on human livelihoods

Bailey, Karen; Bailey, Karen; Bailey, Karen

Friday, August 16, 2019

M108, Kentucky International Convention Center

Karen Bailey, Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, Jonathan Salerno, Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, Forrest R. Stevens, Geography & Geosciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, Andrea E. Gaughan, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, Timothy M. Bowles, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, Lin Cassidy, Okavango Research Institute, University of Botswana, Maun, Botswana, Narcisa Pricope, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC and Joel Hartter, University of Colorado

There is increasing evidence that, globally, protected areas have the potential to improve human wellbeing. However, interacting stressors of human-wildlife conflict, climate, and land-cover change can potentially offset household benefits in conservation landscapes, with implications for global conservation goals. We combined household-level data on food security and human-wildlife conflict with remotely-sensed data on climate trends and land-cover change to better understand how local context mediates the benefits associated with protected areas. In a southern African system, results suggest that severe impacts from wildlife conflict outweigh benefits of ecosystem services or tourism revenue of protected landscapes.

INS 18-5 - Environmental change, human wellbeing, and wildlife conflict: Using remotely-sensed data to examine the impacts of protected areas on human livelihoods