Human–wildlife conflict in the roof of the world: Understanding
multidimensional perspectives through a systematic review
Abstract
Human–wildlife conflicts have intensified by many folds and at
different levels in the recent years. The same is true in the case of
the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), the roof of the world and a region known
for its wealth in biodiversity. We present systematic literature review
(SLR) using the search, appraisal, synthesis, and analysis (SALSA)
framework; and for spatial and network analysis, we employed the
VOSviewer software. The review – covering 240 peer- articles within a
span of 27 years (from 1982 to 2019) – revealed that in the last decade
of that period, there was a 57 per cent increase in publications but
with disproportionate geographical and thematic focus. About 82 per cent
of the research concentrated on protected areas large carnivores and
mega herbivores played a big role in such conflicts. About 53 per cent
of the studies were based on questionnaires based and the main driver
was reported was the habitat disturbance of the animals due to
land-cover change, urbanization, and increase in human population. On
the management front, the studies reported the use of traditional
protection techniques like guarding and fencing. Our analysis of 681
keywords revealed prominent focus on ‘human-wildlife conflict’, ‘Nepal’,
‘Bhutan’, ‘Snow Leopard’ and ‘Leopard’ indicating the issue are linked
with these species and countries. The involvement of 640 authors from 36
countries indicates increasing interest and Nepal and India are playing
key role from the region. As for the spatial and network analysis that
was conducted, while it showed variations in terms of localities, there
were conspicuous limitations in terms of having a transboundary focus.
Thus, particular attention ought to be paid to building transboundary
partnerships and improving management interventions; there is also a
pressing need to understand the patterns of human–wildlife convergence,
especially involving meso mammals.