Potted history of human elephant conflict in Africa
Human-elephant conflict is not a new problem
According to some sources not only could elephants be a problem, but in western Uganda large elephant populations prevented people from practising agriculture altogether.
A conflict as old as agriculture in Africa
While some observers have blamed colonialism for ruining traditionally harmonious relations between wildlife and local people, others believe human-elephant conflict is as old as agriculture itself in Africa.
Elephant populations down, problem rising
Across most of Africa, elephant numbers have been decimated and this has reduced the geographical range of human-elephant contact.
Yet only one out of more than 30 studies published during the 1980s and 1990s described local decline in elephant crop raiding. So why is human-elephant conflict apparently intensifying?
Pressure on land use is growing
Although elephant numbers have drastically declined, human populations have done the exact opposite.
Driven by human population growth, compounded by many other factors, and exacerbated by voluntary or state-sponsored settlements close to parks or marginal areas: the end result is that elephants and farmers compete directly for scarce land.
Put together, these social and physical conditions have led to an increase in a conflict situation that always existed between elephants and agriculturalists.
No one universal causal factor
It is important to recognize no single factor or condition human-elephant conflict across the continent.
However, one can generalize that edges of protected areas are the focal point of conflict throughout Africa. Farmers residing at these edges typically demand protection or compensation from the government, or they retaliate and kill elephants.
A lack of knowledge = lack of understanding
The high variability of human-elephant conflict and an inadequate database of knowledge have hampered efforts to address this highly charged political issue.
To understand farmers’ complaints, the geographical distribution, frequency and extent of crop loss must be examined, as must the socioecological factors that shape local coping strategies and farmers' perception of risk.
Precise measurement is needed given that leading conservationists now identify human-elephant conflict as a primary threat to elephant survival throughout Africa.
Information for this page was obtained courtesy of:
Lisa Naughton*, Robert Rose* and Adrian Treves†
*Department of Geography University of Wisconsin, Madison 550 N. Park Street Madison, WI 53706
† Department of Zoology University of Wisconsin, Madison 250 N. Mills Street Madison, WI 53706
