Wildlife and Interest Groups - Conflicts and Chances -

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Wildlife and Interest Groups- Conflicts and
Chances -

• 23.02.2005
• by Christoph Promberger

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Wildlife and Humans

• Wildlife and humans have a long-lasting
  relationship.
• Most important for humans were utilitarian
  aspects of wildlife (food, competitors) and
  mystic aspects (sacred animals/evil animals).

In our modern, Central European life, wildlife
has decreased in importance and has changed
towards a less utilitarian way to look at it.
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Wildlife and Humans
In other countries, wildlife is still an
important issue In North America or Scandinavia,
wildlife is an important issue for the broader
public and a number of specific wildlife agencies
exist with numerous staff and excellent budgets.

• In rural areas, wildlife has a higher importance
  in comparison to urban areas, but the utilitarian
  aspect is much stronger.

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Who Am I?
A few words about myself

• I grew up in rural Bavaria, next to the Czech
  border
• Forestry degree (Univ. Munich), M.Sc. study
  about wolves in the Canadian North

- 1993-2003 Carpathian Large Carnivore Project
(Romania) - 2004 own horse riding centre - 2005
new conservation project Sinca Noua
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The Carpathian Large Carnivore Project
A conservation and research project in the
east-central Romanian Carpathians with the
overall goal to
enhance the relations between large carnivores
and humans by solving conflicts, creating
economic advantages through the existence of
l.c.s and creating understanding.
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The Carpathian Large Carnivore Project
We divided the project in four general fields of
activities
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The Sinca Noua Project
Sinca Noua is a small village (1,800 inhabitants,
9,000 ha surface, altitude 600-1,600 m) at the
foot of the Carpathian Mountains. The village
wants to develop itself into an eco-village in
order to conserve the area for the next
generations and to enhance the economic situation
for its inhabitants without compromising the
quality of life.
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The Sinca Noua Project
The project is in its very early stage, but
intends to
create a model area, where conservation of nature
and sustainable economic development for the
people go hand in hand and support each other.
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The Sinca Noua Project
Planned activities

• create a large protected area (wilderness
  reserve)

• certification of the local agriculture as
  organic agriculture and of Sinca Noua as an
  eco-tourism destination

• creation of a small-scale industry in food
  processing (milk, meat, fruits, forest fruits)

• development of Sinca Noua as an eco-tourism
  destination, services provided by local people

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Wildlife and Humans
Where are conflicts and chances?
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Wildlife and Humans
Where are conflicts and chances?
Most important reason for conflicts is a lack of
communication and a lack of understanding of each
others interests.
Where local people are expected to accept
conservation measures, conservation managers have
to understand the needs of local people and
provide solutions.
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Wildlife and Humans
Conservation can hardly ever be achieved by
fighting against local people but by creating
partnerships.
Conservation reaches acceptance, where local
people have a personal advantage of a protected
area.
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Hunting
Restrictions upon hunting for conservation issues
always causes conflicts with hunters

• Effects
• less acceptance for protected areas
• increase of poaching

Poaching has always a social component and is a
way to articulate protest. Since poaching can be
done with gun, trap or poison, it is very hard to
control.
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Hunting
Possible solutions to decrease conflicts with
hunters
- accept hunting in parts of the protected area
- accept hunting for various species (e.g. allow
a wild boar hunt/year as a big event)
- include hunters in wildlife monitoring
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Livestock and Agriculture
Especially large carnivores and wild boar can
create substantial damage to livestock and crops
But there are good protection methods against
wildlife damage
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Livestock and Agriculture
Still, damage is acceptable, only 1-2 of the
sheep are killed by carnivores each year.
This is due to the traditional livestock
protection methods, still executed in Romania
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There is no flock of sheep in the mountains
without several guarding dogs
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Livestock and Agriculture
Damage occurs mainly, if
- the shepherds are inattentive
- the camps are too close to the forest
- the dogs are bad quality
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Livestock and Agriculture
In many countries, damage compensation is being
paid. Unless this is linked to protection
methods, it is not a useful tool to mitigate
conflicts between large carnivores and the local
people
More successful is, if money is paid when
carnivores successfully breed in an area or when
protection methods are being co-funded by the
state
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Livestock and Agriculture
Electric fences are the easiest and most
successful tool to protect herds or crops.
Some data - costs ca. 500 Euro/ha ( 7
sheep) - powered with 12 V car batteries -
battery lasts ca. 3-4 weeks before it has to
be recharged
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Eco-tourism
In developing eco-tourism the following
ingredients are necessary
A good story Why should a visitor come to this
specific area?
Tools to develop a proper infrastructure
Tools to prevent unwanted developments
A good marketing strategy Get the word out!
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Eco-tourism
There are three levels to work on

• The local level
• Build/enhance the infrastructure
• Train people
• Create awareness of what eco-tourism means
• Organise the people (e.g. Tourism Association)

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Eco-tourism
There are three levels to work on
2. The national level Get national govt
support Get national media coverage (create
pride on the local level) Attract national
visitors
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Eco-tourism
There are three levels to work on
3. The international level Get international
support (NGOs) Get international media coverage
(attract foreign visitors) Attract international
funding
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Thank you very much for your attention!