Status Of Human Wildlife Conflicts In Villages Adjacent To Mpanga/Kipengere Game Reserve

ABSTRACT

Human-wildlife conflicts is one of the major threats to wildlife conservation in Tanzania‟s wildlife protected areas. The study on status of Human Wildlife Conflicts (HWC) was conducted in three villages adjacent to Mpanga/Kipengere Game Reserve. The objectives of the study were to examine human wildlife conflicts, to assess impacts of human wildlife conflicts on local people‟s livelihoods and to identify mechanisms used by local people to mitigate these conflicts. Questionnaires and key informants interviews were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of crosstabs, percentages and frequencies of counts. Conflicts varied across villages and were mainly boundary conflicts between villages and Mpanga/Kipengere Game Reserve, crop raiding by wild animals and restriction to use game reserves natural resources due to by land scarcity for socio-economic activities. An analysis of gender conflicts associations varied. Major mitigation measures used currently are day and night crop guarding, digging trenches and informing game reserve officials. Several mitigation measures are suggested by both local communities, key informants and other experts. These include implementation of compensation schemes for destruction made by wildlife, sharing benefits from wildlife-related activities and boundary demarcation. The study concludes with a series of recommendations and proposing areas for further research.