Project Detail

Participatory Carnivore - Human Conflict Mitigation in the Chobe Enclave with Emphasis on Livestock Husbandry Practices.

The aim of the project is to come up with data and information through a participatory process that can be used to address/mitigate human-carnivore conflict, and hence enhance conservation of large carnivore and improve communal livelihoods through reduced human-carnivore conflict.This project by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) intends to look at problem analysis of human-carnivore conflict in the Chobe Enclave communal area of Botswana. The project will come up with a new approach to addressing human-carnivore conflict; a participatory problem analysis and an all stakeholder mitigation strategy. The proposed project will focus on all large mammalian large carnivore species inclusive of larger than black backed jackal by body size, this being lion, leopard, spotted hyaena and wild dog. The project will be on a multidisciplinary approach; community liaison, telemetry, ecology, socioeconomic analysis.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

African Wildlife Foundation

Country:

Botswana

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 48,070.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 40,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 50,600.00

Project Number:

BOT/OP3/2/07/03

Start Date:

6/2007

End Date:

12/2012

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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African Wildlife Foundation Community Consultations Aug 2007

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Project Characteristics and Results

Replication of project activities

AWF LCRP is a progressive and adaptive project aimed solely at enhancing the conservation status of large carnivores in the Chobe Enclave. At inception of the LCRP, the initially stages focused on large carnivore inventories (populations sizes and spatial distribution) and problem identification (Human Carnivore Conflict). GEF funding came in the second phase of the project that largely entailed problem analysis of HCC in the HCC, i.e. understanding spatio-temporal patterns of HCC, identification of factors that influence HCC, and through a Chobe Enclave specific HCC mitigations strategy, suggest appropriate mitigation measures for the Chobe Enclave. The next phase LCRP will focuses solely on the implementation of selected HCC mitigations strategy, e.g. introduction of livestock herding/guarding dogs, construction of effective predator proof kraals and application of selective lethal removal of repeat problem carnivores as examples contained in the mitigation strategy.

Policy Influence

Firstly, it is well acknowledge that human animal conflict resolution requires site specific measures. One of the products of these projects, Chobe Enclave Specific HCC Mitigations Strategy directly addresses this concern.

Gender Focus

Gender focus is not inherent in the design of this project, but gender-bias towards males as the primary stakeholders is expected. Traditionally livestock is masculine reaponsibility; not that there are no female-headed households with cattle.

Policy Impact

Information that will be generated by this project is very important and necessary in terms of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks' (DWNP) decision making on a day-to-day management of wildlife resources and in its adaptive strategies. The famous ban on lion and cheetah killing emanated from this kind of feedback to DWNP by researchers.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

It is policy at AWF that all projects perform quartely reporting, which are for AWF's internal use and after a certain period these project reports are published as occasional or thematic papers for public consumption. Reports are also made available to the public on the AWF website.

Project sustainability

Large Carnivore Research Project remains an AWF project and post GEF funding the project will continue to be supported by the organizations. To emphasise this, even during GEF funding, some of the activities and costs were still funded by AWF, e.g. staff salaries. The Principal Research Officer at LCRP is also very familiar with writing of proposal for funding, e.g. successfully written proposal to Japan Fund for Global Environment.

Capacity - Building Component

Livestock owners are the primary stakeholders in this project, and their involvement throughout the project can be classified as some form of capacity building, and definately contributes towards community empowerment in decision making on matters directly affecting their livelihoods.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

Project costs can be very high; as a means to reduce on cost, this project intends to apply part-time engagements in gathering some of the required informatio.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project aims at coming up with human-carnivore conflict mitigation strategies in order to reduce economic loss due to livestock predation by large carnivores and enhance the conservation of large carnivores. A reduction on livestock predation has direct and positive implication on farmers' livelihoods. It is also worth noting that livestock, especially cattle, are very important traditional livelihoods sources for Batswana.

Planning gef grant

There are no plans at the moment for up-scaling to medium GEF grant. However, as the scope of the project evolves and AWF remains open to considering medium-sized GEF funding.

Planning non gef grant

This project has already been scaled up through USAID SCAPES funding, mainly implementation of HCC mitigation strategy. Notably, two activities, i.e. predator proof livestock kraals/enclosures and introduction of livestock herding dogs. To date, two demonstration kraals have been constructed based on design suggested at community/farmers workshops. Also as of January 2012, 9 livestock herding/guarding dogs have been introduced to goat herds at nine separate locations. Progress of puppy induction to the flock has been largely very satisfactory.

Notable Community Participation

This project's emphasis is on community participation at all levels of the project. The three planned participatory workshops will ensure feedback to and participation of the community throughout the project life. These workshops will also ensure that other stakeholders beyond livestock owners can participate and contribute in the project. This project is centered on collectively (inclusive of the local community) deduced conflicts mitigations measures, for such measures to be acceptable and practical on the part of the community; hence community participation is inevitable.

Project Results

Activities Performed under this Agreement:

? Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Human Carnivore Conflict in the Chobe Enclave
? Assessment of cattle kraal designs and structures in the Chobe Enclave
? Large carnivore activity in relation to human settlement patterns
? Space use of cattle in the Chobe Enclave
? Human Carnivore Mitigation strategy for the Chobe Enclave

Results:
Accomplishment of Objectives of the Agreement

Objective Accomplishment Comments
spatio-temporal patterns of HCC 100% Completed
assessment of kraal designs & structures 100% Completed
carnivore activity vs human settlements 75% only spoor count was used to determined carnivore distribution in relation to human settlements
carnivore/cattle movement patterns and space use 50% due to failure of telemetry equipment deployed on spotted hyaenas, no direct comparative carnivore-cattle space use analyses could be performed, however space use of cattle can be assessed against known large carnivore ranging behavior.
HCC mitigation strategy 100% Completed

Benefits received by the participants and/or the recipient community
a. Immediate benefits
? Chobe Enclave Specific HCC Mitigation Strategy
? Direct participation of the community or farmers in the development of this strategy, and hence better ownership and capacity development
b. long-term benefits
? Community driven and affordable HCC mitigation in the Chobe Enclave
? Reduced HCC that is expected to translate to enhanced conservation of large carnivore in the Chobe Enclave.

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