Oryx Vol 37 No 3 July 2003 People and protected areas: a study of local perceptions of wildlife crop-damage conflict in an area bordering the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania Sarah Gillingham and Phyllis C. Lee Abstract This paper presents an analysis of perceived describe on-farm patterns of crop-damage. Comparison of the two data sets indicates a disjunction between the patterns of wildlife crop-damage in relation to an on- farm assessment of damage in an area bordering the nature of the wildlife crop-damage conflict as perceived by local villagers, and as it actually occurs in the study Selous Game Reserve (SGR) in south-eastern Tanzania. Data from an attitudinal questionnaire survey of 202 area. This disjunction is discussed in relation to the eCect of extreme damage events on local people’s views, the households in four villages are used to examine local perceptions of wildlife crop-damage in terms of relative opportunity costs involved in guarding farm plots against crop-damage, and the tenure arrangements for wild- impact and which wildlife species were responsible. We explore the influence of wildlife crop-damage on attitudes life that define the relationship with the state wildlife management authority. to the adjacent game reserve. Data on the frequency of crop-damage events and estimated severity of impacts, recorded during a 6-month programme of crop-damage Keywords Crop-damage, Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, wildlife conflict. monitoring in one of the survey villages, are used to the major cause of human-wildlife conflict, particularly Introduction in situations where the lands of agriculturalist com- munities border protected areas. Thus a survey of local The eCective long-term conservation of wildlife in and around protected areas requires the support of the people people living adjacent to six protected areas in Tanzania found that 86% of respondents (n =1,396) reported who experience the direct impacts of the establishment and management of those areas (Kiss, 1990; Western & problems with wildlife causing crop-damage (Newmark et al., 1994). High proportions of respondents also Wright, 1994). Local people cannot be expected to pro- vide this support if the costs of doing so outweigh the reported wildlife crop-damage as a source of conflict in studies carried out around protected areas in Botswana benefits, i.e. if the existence of the protected area and its wildlife have negative impacts on local livelihoods (Parry & Campbell, 1992), Uganda (Hill, 1997) and Kenya (Kangwana, 1993). (Murphree, 1996). An understanding of the relationship between a protected area and its surrounding human Although most studies of wildlife crop-damage are based on surveys of local peoples’ perceptions of the population in terms of these costs and benefits is there- fore crucial to the design and implementation of projects problem and its impacts, it is recognized that the per- ceived and actual costs of such conflicts do not always seeking to promote conservation with development (Newmark et al., 1994). match (Bell, 1984; Kangwana, 1993; Naughton-Treves, 1997; Siex & Struhsaker, 1999). This presents a dilemma In many parts of Africa local people report conflicts with wildlife over damage to crops, property and the for state wildlife management authorities faced with the demands of local communities for problem animal threat posed by wildlife to human life as a significant cost of living adjacent to protected areas (Parry & control. This paper presents an analysis of perceived patterns of wildlife crop-damage in an area along the Campbell, 1992; Kangwana, 1993; Newmark et al., 1994; Naughton-Treves, 1996; Hill, 1997a); Weladji & Tchamba northern border of the Selous Game Reserve in south- eastern Tanzania. Questionnaire data from a survey of 2003). Of these problems, wildlife crop-damage is often four villages are used to examine local perceptions of, and tolerance for, wildlife crop-damage, and the Sarah Gillingham (Corresponding author) and Phyllis C. Lee Department influence of wildlife crop-damage on local attitudes to of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, UK. E-mail: gillinghms@aol.com the adjacent game reserve. Data on incidents of wildlife crop-damage recorded during a 6-month monitoring Received 25 March 2002. Revision requested 9 September 2002. Accepted 20 May 2003. programme in one of the four study villages are then 316 © 2003 FFI, Oryx, 37(3), 316–325 DOI: 10.1017/S0030605303000577 Printed in the United Kingdom https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605303000577 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 54.161.69.107, on 15 Jun 2020 at 13:27:55, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at