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Wildlife Damage in Rural Areas with Emphasis on Malawi

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Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use

Part of the book series: Conservation Biology Series ((COBI,volume 12))

Summary

Wildlife pests cause losses in production in the agricultural, forestry and livestock keeping sectors and often result in damage to property and human injury and death. It is almost impossible to estimate the cost to human life but the effect on crops is economically significant. Most losses occur in subsistence cropping systems and they are caused mainly by smaller pest species, such as monkeys and rodents. Crop losses due to large animals, such as elephant, often causing conflicts between conservation interests and local populations, is economically less important. A case study in 1992 in Malawi indicated that approximately 8% of the potential agricultural production is lost due to vertebrate pests. However, the contribution of large mammals from protected areas was estimated to be less than 1% of the potential production. Land use changes and the fragmentation of wildlife habitat usually cause an increase in wildlife-human conflict and smaller protected areas contribute more to the problem than the larger protected areas. Producers are not the only component of the economy that are affected by wildlife pests; production losses cause decreased revenues in all dependent sectors and may lead to a reduction in exports and increased imports. Crop losses in Malawi in 1991 were valued at US$29 million at producer level; US$54 million at consumer level and US$58 million in loss of exports and increased imports. The impact of wildlife in rural areas near to protected land is important with regard to wildlife conservation when production loss is not compensated for by legal revenues from wildlife. Compensation for losses due to wildlife from other sources is generally not considered adequate to solve the wildlife-human conflict. Therefore, the long-term benefits from wildlife for populations in wildlife areas should be maximised. This can be realised by, among others, the integration of crop protection and wildlife exploitation, tourism development, and the facilitation of controlled access to wildlife resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Tropical Nature Conservation & Vertebrate Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Bornsesteeg 69, 6708, PD Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Floris Deodatus

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  1. Floris Deodatus
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Environmental Sciences Tropical Nature Conservation & Vertebrate Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Bornsesteeg 69, 6708 PD, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Herbert H. T. Prins

  2. P.O. Box 25021, Nairobi, Kenya

    Jan Geu Grootenhuis

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Deodatus, F. (2000). Wildlife Damage in Rural Areas with Emphasis on Malawi. In: Prins, H.H.T., Grootenhuis, J.G., Dolan, T.T. (eds) Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use. Conservation Biology Series, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4012-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4012-6_7

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