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Are Elephants Flagships or Battleships? Understanding Impacts of Human-Elephant Conflict on Human Wellbeing in Trans Mara District, Kenya


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Type

Thesis

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Authors

NYUMBA, Tobias Ochieng  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7821-5197

Abstract

This thesis examines the impacts of human-elephant conflict on human wellbeing and the implications for elephant conservation and management in Trans Mara District, Kenya. The District comprises communal lands bordering the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya. Trans Mara supports a range of land use types and provides refuge to one of Kenya’s large elephant population comprised of over 3,000 transient and 500 resident animals. This study used interdisciplinary methods to gain insights into the nature and consequences of conflict on the wellbeing of communities living with elephants. In particular, I used a combination of existing wellbeing indices and a set of indicators developed through consultations with local communities in TM to measure impacts of HEC on specific wellbeing domains. The results show that elephants still use the communal lands in Trans Mara but are increasingly restricted to the riverine forest remnants in central Trans Mara. However, there was no evidence of a further decline in the elephant range. Instead, this study points to a shift in elephant range against a background of increasing human settlement, land sub-division and agricultural expansion. The wellbeing of Trans Mara residents comprised eight indicators. Human-elephant conflict negatively affected peoples’ wellbeing, but the impacts were limited to certain dimensions. Elephants affected school-going children within elephant range. Attitudes towards elephants and its conservation in TM were influenced by the location of human residence relative to elephant refuge, diversity of income sources, and age and gender. Finally, conflict mitigation in Trans Mara is still elusive and challenging, but opportunities exist to develop simple and dynamic mitigation tools. The findings of this study have important implications for the future of elephant conservation in the face of competing human needs, both in Trans Mara District and elsewhere in Africa.

Description

Date

2017-09-22

Advisors

Leader-Williams, Nigel

Keywords

Wellbeing, Human-elephant-conflcit, Poverty, Range

Qualification

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Awarding Institution

University of Cambridge
Sponsorship
Cambridge Commonwealth Trust/ Churchill/Sidney Sussex Southern African Cambridge Scholarship Churchill College/ Pennett Fund Grant and Lundgren Research Award Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) WildiZE Foundation