A quantitative assessment of the indirect impacts of human-elephant conflict

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 12;16(7):e0253784. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253784. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflict has direct and indirect consequences for human communities. Understanding how both types of conflict affect communities is crucial to developing comprehensive and sustainable mitigation strategies. We conducted an interview survey of 381 participants in two rural areas in Myanmar where communities were exposed to human-elephant conflict (HEC). In addition to documenting and quantifying the types of direct and indirect impacts experienced by participants, we evaluated how HEC influences people's attitudes towards elephant conservation. We found that 99% of participants suffered from some type of indirect impact from HEC, including fear for personal and family safety from elephants and fear that elephants will destroy their home. Despite experiencing moderate levels of indirect impacts from HEC at the community level, participants expressed attitudes consistent with supporting future elephant conservation programs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Animals
  • Animals, Wild / psychology*
  • Conservation of Natural Resources*
  • Elephants / psychology*
  • Fear
  • Female
  • Human-Animal Interaction*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Myanmar
  • Surveys and Questionnaires / statistics & numerical data
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

We received funding for this work from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Asian Elephant Conservation Fund through two grants #ASE1648 (PL, DT, CS), and #F19AP00779 (SR, PL, CS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.