Fostering coexistence through a poverty reduction approach

​FAO; IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Specialist Group;

Fostering coexistence through a poverty reduction approach

Autores

FAO; IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Specialist Group;

Editor

FAO ;

Descripción

The case study comes from Bolivia, where following a regional assessment on the distribution of Andean bears in 2010, researchers received reports from local communities regarding Andean bears attacking and killing cattle in the Tarija region, with retaliation against the bears ensuing. Researchers were surprised by these reports as the presence of bears had not been documented in the area. However, in 2016, a camera trap study was initiated by Chester Zoo, Protección Medio Ambiente Tarija (PROMETA) and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and confirmed the presence of a reproductive population of Andean bears in the region. These findings became the trigger to start the Andean Bears and People Project in 2018, a collaboration between Chester Zoo, PROMETA, WildCRU, Centro de Estudios Regionales de Tarija (CERDET), Instituto de Investigación y Capacitacion Campesina (IICA) and the Natural History Museum Alcides d’Orbigny. This case study describes the main findings of the project related to fostering coexistence through poverty reduction approach.