A FUTURE FOR ALL: THE NEED FOR HUMAN-WILDLIFE COEXISTENCE

The report examines the global crisis of human-wildlife conflict (HWC), detailing its impacts on ecosystems, local communities, and sustainable development. It argues that traditional short-term mitigation is insufficient and proposes a shift toward 'coexistence' through integrated management involving monitoring, policy reform, and stakeholder engagement. The document provides case studies from regions such as Namibia, India, and Nepal to demonstrate how holistic approaches—including community-led monitoring, land-use planning, and innovative financing like 'Wildlife Credits'—can reduce conflict and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

• Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is a global issue that threatens the survival of numerous species, with 53 of the more than 260 terrestrial vertebrate species recorded to have negative interactions with people now declared as threatened.
• HWC is driven by a combination of ecological factors, such as animal life cycles, and anthropogenic drivers, including habitat loss, climate change, and infrastructure development.
• Climate change is specifically increasing human-polar bear conflicts in the Arctic as melting sea ice forces bears onto land and into closer proximity to human settlements.
• HWC can inadvertently create an enabling environment for wildlife crime; for example, in Myanmar, poachers have offered to remove damage-causing elephants in exchange for information from affected local communities.
• The costs of HWC are disproportionately borne by impoverished rural and Indigenous communities, while the benefits of species survival are often distributed among urban dwellers and developed nations.
• HWC impacts are not only direct financial losses but also 'hidden costs' including chronic fear, stress, and disruptions to gender roles, such as women taking on physically demanding roles to salvage crops.
• Effective HWC management requires an integrated approach consisting of six elements: understanding the conflict, mitigation, response, prevention, policy, and monitoring.
• Namibia has implemented a successful decentralized legal framework through communal area conservancies, where communities have rights over wildlife and tourism, contributing approximately US$86 million to the net national income.
• In Nepal's Chitwan National Park, an integrated approach including revenue sharing (30% of entry fees) and rapid response teams reduced livestock predation by tigers by 75% over 10 years.
• The 'Wildlife Credits' model in Namibia provides performance-based payments to landholders for verifiable conservation outcomes, such as maintaining wildlife corridors or recording species sightings.
• HWC is linked to 15 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), affecting food security, gender equality, and poverty, although it is not explicitly mentioned in formal SDG statements.

APA

E, G., N., J., A., B., G., P., R., W., & F., H.-K. (2021). A FUTURE FOR ALL: THE NEED FOR HUMAN-WILDLIFE COEXISTENCE. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/375/8zhcghahmt_A_future_for_all_the_need_for_human_willdife_coexistence.pdf

Chicago

E, Gross, Jayasinghe N., Brooks A., Polet G., Wadhwa R., and Hilderink-Koopmans F. A FUTURE FOR ALL: THE NEED FOR HUMAN-WILDLIFE COEXISTENCE. WWF International, 2021. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/375/8zhcghahmt_A_future_for_all_the_need_for_human_willdife_coexistence.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=E |first1=Gross |last2=N. |first2=Jayasinghe |last3=A. |first3=Brooks |last4=G. |first4=Polet |last5=R. |first5=Wadhwa |last6=F. |first6=Hilderink-Koopmans |title=A FUTURE FOR ALL: THE NEED FOR HUMAN-WILDLIFE COEXISTENCE |publisher=WWF International |date=2021 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/375/8zhcghahmt_A_future_for_all_the_need_for_human_willdife_coexistence.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{e2021future, author = {E, Gross and N., Jayasinghe and A., Brooks and G., Polet and R., Wadhwa and F., Hilderink-Koopmans}, title = {{A FUTURE FOR ALL: THE NEED FOR HUMAN-WILDLIFE COEXISTENCE}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/375/8zhcghahmt_A_future_for_all_the_need_for_human_willdife_coexistence.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }