Residents perspectives on human-wildlife conflict management to build community resilience in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Human-wildlife conflict can significantly impact economic, social, and
ecological systems critical to promoting sustainable development.
Effectively managing conflicts between people and wildlife that share a
common landscape requires the implementation of effective management
strategies that aim to reduce the impacts of HWC and promote coexistence
as preferred by the community. However, many studies have often overlooked
social aspects, especially the residents’ perceptions of HWC management,
that can help build community resilience. Residents and wildlife share a
common landscape in the Chitwan National Park in Nepal. Competition for
resources grows as the human-modified landscape provides a new form of
habitat for wildlife. We used Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to
capture the residents' (n=506) perspectives on the importance of HWC
management strategies and their performance by park management to
prioritize strategies that could help build community resilience. We found
notable mean performance-importance gaps for the eight HWC management
strategies, representing the park management’s inability to meet the
desired need of  farmers and non-farmers. The IPA matrix grid
shows the three strategies - skill, livelihood, and compensation - that
need immediate attention from park management as they fall under
high-priority strategies in quadrant II. The two-way ANOVA results
revealed that the residents’ perspectives on importance and performance in
all management sectors differ. We conclusively recommend developing
site-and context-specific HWC management plans that consider the affected
community's livelihood needs, which are essential for increasing the
operational effectiveness of HWC management. Park management should
prioritize strategies in sectors more vulnerable to HWCs to secure
community support for long-term conservation goals. This study will be a
key reference for identifying context-specific management strategies that
incorporate community resilience in the management of human-wildlife
conflict. This could inform HWC management policy and conservation
planning to achieve coexistence that benefits both people and wildlife,
particularly in low-income countries with similar socio-ecological
settings. Overall, our findings provide a new perspective on
human-wildlife conflict management that policymakers, researchers, and
protected area managers around the world can use to build community
resilience to facilitate coexistence.