19. Relationships between humans and lions in wildlife corridors through CBNRM in north-west Namibia

Abstract

Protected areas are considered essential for conserving large carnivores, although large carnivores also occur outside protected areas and have shared landscapes with humans for millennia. The Namibian Community-Based Natural Resources Management programme adopted in 1996 aims to devolve wildlife conservation practices and to benefit local people inhabiting communal areas. The programme is experiencing challenges, but has achieved some success in encouraging the coexistence of wildlife and rural communities on communal land. Because the programme is built upon human wildlife coexistence, however, human- lion conflict is also present. This has been a pressing concern, particularly regarding people’s willingness to coexist with dangerous animals such as lions. From a wildlife conservation perspective, a lack of monitoring of human settlement and livestock movement into conservancy areas zoned for wildlife is a concern. This chapter discusses current research from remote sensing of lion and goat movement using satellite- Global Positioning System collars, focusing on understanding goat movement ecology within designated wildlife areas. Information collected on goat movements within wildlife areas will be used to better manage the shared landscape in the perceived “corridor” between Etosha National Park and the Skeleton Coast National Park. The research shared here thus focuses on the “ lion- goat space”, contributing to evidence-based goat spatial habitat use in communal area conservancies to ensure appropriate deployments of human- lion conflict mitigation measures.