TOWARDS INTEGRATED DECISION MAKING FOR ELEPHANT MANAGEMENT 12 Lead author: Harry C Biggs Author: Rob Slotow Contributing authors: Robert J Scholes, Jane Carruthers, Rudi van Aarde, Graham H I Kerley, Wayne Twine, Douw G Grobler, Henk Berthshinger, C C (Rina) Grant, H P P (Hennie) Lötter, James Blignaut, Lisa Hopkinson, and Mike Peel In answer to the question ‘Is containment of a population eruption desirable?’ Graeme Caughley replied ‘his is not a scientiic question. I can boast of no qualiications that would make my opinion any more valuable than those of my two immediate neighbours, a garage mechanic on the one hand and an Air Vice-Marshall on the other.’ (Caughley, 1981) INTENTION AND APPROACH T HIS CHAPTER draws on material from previous chapters and builds linkages among them. We supply some theoretical background that may help explain the consequences of various approaches to the ‘elephant problem’ as currently framed, a ‘problem’ which has arisen in conjunction with the growth of human settlements and activities across the landscape. We construct and discuss an integrative framework, and then summarise and synthesise the main points from the contents of Chapters 1–11 into this framework. Using the above analysis, we then suggest how decision makers might most usefully approach and formulate elephant issues. We present a range of options for particular circumstances, at the level of societal inluences, strategy and practical implementation, and the integration of these three. Finally we list what we see after the assessment as important gaps, and conclude. MAKING COMPLEX ISSUES TRACTABLE One underlying reason why the ‘elephant problem’ appears so intractable is that it is complex (Chapter 1). his afects decision making. Kinnaman & Bleich (2004) describe a range of responses, from toleration through to full collaborative behaviour, where there are diferent combinations of agreement and certainty