BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 24, Number 2, February 2023 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 837-846 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d240220 State of human tiger conflict around Gunung Leuser National Park in Langkat Landscape, North Sumatra, Indonesia PINDI PATANA 1,2,♥ , HADI S. ALIKODRA 1,3 , HERMAN MAWENGKANG 1,4 , R. HAMDANI HARAHAP 1,5 1 Graduate Program in Environmental and Natural Resources Management, Universitas Sumatera Utara. Jl. Dr. T. Mansur No. 9, Padang Bulan, Medan 20155, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Tel./fax.: +62-61-8212453,  email: pindi@usu.ac.id 2 Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Kampus 2 USU Bekala, Jl. Lingkar Kampus, Pancur Batu, Deli Serdang 20353, North Sumatra, Indonesia 3 Faculty of Forestry and Environment, Institut Pertanaian Bogor. Jl. Ulin, Kampus IPB Dramaga, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia 4 Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara. Jl. Bioteknologi, Padang Bulan, Medan 20155, North Sumatra, Indonesia 5 Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Sumatera Utara. Jl. Dr. A. Sofian No. 1A, Padang Bulan, Medan 20155, North Sumatra, Indonesia Manuscript received: 21 November 2022. Revision accepted: 4 February 2023. Abstract. Patana P, Alikodra HS, Mawengkang H, Harahap RH. 2023. State of human tiger conflict around Gunung Leuser National Park in Langkat Landscape, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 837-846. The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is one of the key species which is considered an endangered species by the IUCN (2008). There has also been a recent threat to their population due to conflict with humans. Information about landscape characteristics and livelihood related to human-tiger conflict (HTC) is needed for a proper mitigation strategy based on local parameters. Therefore, this study was carried out around Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP) using quantitative and qualitative methods. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze and map the risk of HTC using landscape characteristics. The physical factors, including land cover, slope, elevation, distance from rivers, and settlement, were analyzed. The livelihood aspect related to land use change was described descriptively and became a major analysis. The study area is located in the buffer zone of GLNP in Langkat District. The results showed that the Eigen weight value for the slope, elevation, and land cover factor was greater than the distance to the river and settlement. The spatial analysis also revealed that Langkat Landscape was in the medium risk of HTC by covering 60% area, while 40% was in the interval of high to very high risk. Furthermore, the high dependence on land for agriculture and the activity of livestock has become a trigger for more massive HTC in the last three years. It is a challenge in human-tiger conflict mitigation to invol ve the resolution of people’s livelihoods surrounding the nati onal park. The livelihood approach could be a future solution that bridges human and tiger aspects, in addition to habitat management and protecting conservation areas. Keywords: Conflict, Gunung Leuser, livelihood, Sumatran tiger INTRODUCTION The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is one of the 3 subspecies of tigers that are still alive in Indonesia (Wibisono and Pusparini 2010). Previous reports showed that it is on the verge of extinction because there are only 500 to 600 individuals in the population (Ministry of Environment and Forestry 2019, unpublished data). It has also been categorized as a critically endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) red list in 2015 (Godrich et al. 2015). The other subspecies, namely the Balinese tiger (Panthera tigris balica) and Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), have been declared extinct (Burton et al. 2020; Herdiana et al. 2022). The decline in the population of Sumatran tigers was caused by the high rate of habitat loss at 3.2-5.9%/year, as well as the illegal trade of these animals (Linkie et al. 2008). From 1998-2002, at least 51 of them were killed per year, of which 76% and 15% were caused by trafficking and human-tiger conflicts, respectively (Cochard et al. 2017). From 2001-2016 throughout Sumatra, there were 1065 cases of conflict, including 375 low-risk (tigers roaming around humans), 376 medium-risk (tigers attacking livestock), as well as 184 high-risk cases (tigers attacking humans) with 130 high risks cases ending in the death of the animal (Kartika 2017). Human-tiger conflict (HTC) as a part of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is one of the recent challenges in wildlife conservation (Chowdhury et al. 2016; Doubleday and Adams 2020). A recent study revealed that 87% of the publications on HWC were carried out in Asian countries, such as India, Nepal, and Indonesia, over the last decades (Torres et al. 2018). Consequently, reducing the intensity and mitigating conflicts have become top priorities in tiger conservation (Dhunghana et al. 2016). Comprehensive approaches are also needed to manage HTC to minimize risks to humans and animals (Bhattarai et al. 2019; Lubis et al. 2020). If these conflicts are not properly managed, it can lead to injury or death of domestic animals, as well as humans (Madden and McQuinn 2014). Human-wildlife interactions occurred in several rural communities and potentially impacted livelihood vulnerability (Pereira et al. 2021). Mitigation can be used to reduce HTC as well as bridge human communities to coexist with wildlife (Struebig et al. 2018; Wuttunee and Blanchard 2022).