Human-elephant interactions: exploring conflicts and drivers in enduimet wildlife management area, Tanzania

Abstract

A globally rapid land use/land cover change in human-transformed landscapes alters the interface of human-wildlife interactions due to shifting socio-ecological and environmental pressures. Understanding these shifts is crucial for mitigating repeated negative interactions that escalate conflict states between people and wildlife. This study aimed to understand land use/land cover change changes between1989–2019, with more recent spatio-temporal patterns of high pressure at the human-elephant interface, and potentially underlying environmental and human driven factors that affect elephant movement patterns. The study analyzed a dataset of 923 human-elephant conflict occurrences, mainly crop foraging incidents in the Enduimet between the years 2016 and 2020 and combined these data with land use/land cover change for year 2019 to understand potential drivers of conflict. Furthermore, GPS datasets of elephants collared between 2019 to 2020 used to understand elephant movement patterns in changing land use types. Landsat image study revealed that 41% of the area had been converted into farmlands and settlements within the last three decades, which creates elephant-intolerant habitats and the potential to increase pressure at the human elephant interface. The collared elephants using Enduimet moved through all land use types and did not avoid settlements, although they moved through these at higher speeds, reflecting perception of risk. Elephants travelled slightly more slowly in farmland, likely reflecting the availability of foraging opportunities. Conclusively, communities in land use/land cover change urgently need support to increase the effective distance between their farming activities and the protected areas.