THE CONFLICT BETWEEN WILDLIFE AND LOCAL PEOPLE LIVING ADJACENT TO PROTECTED AREAS IN TANZANIA - HUMAN DENSITY AS A PREDICTOR

A questionnaire survey was conducted in Tanzania of 1396 local people living adjacent to Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, and M ikumi National Parks and the Selous Game Reserve. Over 71% of local pe ople surveyed reported problems with wildlife. The relative frequency of reported conflict with wildlife was significantly and inversely rel ated to human density on lands adjacent to a protected area Of those l ocal people who reported having problems with wildlife, 86% reported c rop damage, while 10% reported the killing of livestock and poultry. T he problematic wildlife species also varied significantly with human d ensity. Large animals were more problematic at low human densities, wh ile small animals were more problematic at high human densities. Local people were generally less effective in controlling small-bodied spec ies than large-bodied species. The relative frequency of reported succ ess in controlling wildlife varied significantly with human density an d was bimodal: local people were less effective in controlling wildlif e at lower and higher human densities. This bimodal relationship sugge sts that, even if all protected areas in Tanzania were abolished, loca l people would continue to experience problems with wildlife at high h uman densities. To minimize the conflict between wildlife and local pe ople, land uses associated with low human density that are non-attract ive to wildlife should be encouraged on lands adjacent to protected ar eas in Tanzania