Agricultural and Biological Research

Local people’s attitude towards African elephant conservation in and around Chebra Churchura national park, Ethiopia

Adane Tsegaye*, Afework Bekele and Anagaw Atikem

Economic growth and development in developing countries often involves land use changes which fragment natural areas, bring humans and wildlife into closer proximity and escalating human wildlife conflicts. Human wildlife conflicts impose huge costs on local people and their livelihoods. Balancing developmental activities with the conservation of mega fauna such as the African and Asian elephants (Loxodonta africana, Elephas maximus; respectively) remains problematic. Understanding the reasoning upon which perceived risks and level of human elephant conflict laid is critical to address societal or cultural beliefs in order to develop effective mitigation strategies. The perceived risks and level of conflict have to be properly addressed for effective planning and implementation of appropriate mitigation strategies. We studied human elephant interactions in Chebra Churchura National Park Ethiopia (CCNP) from September 8 to October 28, 2022 and collected baseline data on human perceptions of conflicts in an area where elephant populations are increasing. To complete our study, we surveyed 800 household from 20 villages adjacent to the CCNP. The purpose of this investigation was to identify the relevance of the existing human elephant conflict with the attitude of local communities towards elephant conservation, the park management and perceived effective mitigation techniques. Most respondents (38%) reported firing warning gun by park scouts as an effective method of crop prevention followed by chilly and bee hive fencing (19.7%) sound noise including the sound of barking dog and hammering materials made of metal (13.3%) guarding (11.3%) fire smoking (9%) and smoking chilly and elephant dung (9%). The local communities trust in the implementation of different traditional mitigation techniques is generally weak. The hose holds interviewed were less positive towards the effectiveness of most of the traditional techniques in chasing elephants away from their farm lands.