Projekt

This project aims to produce community wildlife management plans in a Wildlife Dispersal Area of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA). It will address a key question of the Anthopocene: How can humans and wildlife coexist in the face of globalization? KAZA TFCA is an initiative of five countries in Southern Africa that aims to conserve viable populations of wild animals as well as improve the livelihoods of the 2.7 million local residents. Driven by globalization, climate change and population growth, KAZA faces multifaceted sustainability challenges, including negative impacts of wild animals on rural livelihoods. Using interdisciplinary and transdiciplinary approaches, the project will work with local stakeholders to broaden and deepen their understanding of the systems they live in, seeking to create new and flexible institutions that facilitate living with wildlife. Firstly, surveys will be conducted to understand wildlife impacts on livelihoods and factors driving tolerance of people to wildlife. Next, a series of social learning workshops will be conducted with a representative selection of stakeholders that will include participatory mapping and scenarioplanning to envision futures for the landscape. These workshops will build capacity and produce knowledge to enable different worldviews and knowledge systems to be shared. Lastly, wildlife management plans will be co-produced with stakeholders. Academically, this research will contribute new tools and frameworks that can be applied across different landscapes and cultures. Practically, the project will empower communities and conservation managers to sustainably manage human-wildlife interactions by fostering understanding and improved wellbeing.

• Prof. Dr. Eva Schlecht

  Universität Göttingen
  Fakultät für Agrarwissenschaften
  Department für Nutztierwissenschaften
  Abteilung Tierhaltung in den Tropen und Subtropen
  Göttingen
  

• Dr. Ruth Kansky

  Stellenbosch University
  Faculty of AgriScience
  Conservation Ecology and Entomology
  Stellenbosch
  Südafrika
  

• Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Schareika

  Universität Göttingen
  Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät
  Institut für Ethnologie
  Göttingen
  

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Bürkert

  Universität Kassel
  FB 11: Ökologische Agrarwissenschaften
  Fachgebiet Ökologischer Pflanzenbau und Agraröko-
  systemforschung in den Tropen und Subtropen
  Witzenhausen
  

• Does money buy tolerance towards damage-causing wildlife?

• Understanding drivers of human tolerance towards mammals in a mixed-use transfrontier conservation area in southern Africa