Abstract
Conflicts between humans about wildlife, sometimes also referred to as conservation conflicts, are a challenging issue all over the world. Comparing conservation conflicts from different settings helps to better understand general strategies for conflict management and provides opportunities for mutual learning to solve conservation conflicts. This paper analyses commonalities and differences of conservation conflicts in one Ghanaian and three German national parks, and discusses lessons and implications for conflict management. Using the social-ecological system framework and social conflict theory, we conducted focus groups and interviews with relevant actors, collected secondary sources of information and conducted a qualitative content analysis. Results describe resource systems, resource units, governance systems, and actors. Conflict issues identified for both cases revolve around wildlife populations and wildlife impacts, disagreements about conservation, hunting, disputes among actors, as well as issues of inadequate involvement of actors. Results further indicate that similar drivers such as contrary values, different interests, structural problems, legislative issues and inadequate involvement contribute to conflict development. However, the contexts of the case studies within which these conflicts develop, basically differ. From our findings, we developed both general as well as case-specific management principles necessary for conflict management. The paper concludes that root causes of conflict emergence and social processes should be addressed to facilitate conflict management. If appropriate general and case-specific instruments are chosen, a solution to conservation conflicts can be possible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Acquah, E., Dearden, P., & Rollins, R. (2016). Nature-based tourism in Mole National Park, Ghana. African Geographical Review, 35(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376812.2015.1088389
Adams, W. M. (2015). The political ecology of conservation conflicts. In S. M. Redpath, R. J. Gutiérrez, K. A. Wood, J. C. Young (Eds.), Conflicts in conservation. Navigating towards solutions (pp. 64–75). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Armitage, D. R., de Loë, R., & Plummer, R. (2012). Environmental governance and its implications for conservation practice. Conservation Letters, 5(4), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00238.x
Armitage, D. R., Marschke, M., & Plummer, R. (2008). Adaptive co-management and the paradox of learning. Global Environmental Change, 18(1), 86–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.07.002
Armitage, D. R., Plummer, R., Berkes, F., Arthur, R. I., Charles, A. T., Davidson-Hunt, I. J., Diduck, A., Doubleday, N., Johnson, D. S., Marschke, M., McConney, P., & Pinkerton, E. (2009). Adaptive co-management for social-ecological complexity. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(2), 95–102. https://doi.org/10.1890/070089
Ayivor, J. S., Gordon, C., & Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y. (2013). Protected area management and livelihood conflicts in Ghana: a case study of Digya National Park. PARKS, 19(1), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2013.PARKS-19-1.JSA.en
Berkes, F. (2009). Evolution of co-management: role of knowledge generation, bridging organizations and social learning. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(5), 1692–1702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.12.001
Borrini-Feyerabend, G., Pimbert, M., Farvar, M. T., Kothari, A., & Renard, Y. (2004). Sharing power: Learning-by-doing in co-management of natural resources throughout the world. Cenesta.
Butler, J. R. A., Young, J. C., McMyn, I. A. G., Leyshon, B., Graham, I. M., Walker, I., Baxter, J. M., Dodd, J., & Warburton, C. (2015). Evaluating adaptive co-management as conservation conflict resolution: Learning from seals and salmon. Journal of Environmental Management, 160(1), 212–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.06.019
Clark, D. A., & Slocombe, S. (2011). Adaptive co-management and grizzly bear-human conflicts in two Northern Canadian aboriginal communities. Human Ecology, 39(5), 627–640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-011-9423-x
Coser, L. A. (1957). Social conflict and the theory of social change. The British Journal of Sociology, 8(3), 197–207.
Cox, M., Arnold, G., & Villamayor Tomás, S. (2010). A review of design principles for community-based natural resource management. Ecology and Society, 15(4). doi:https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03704-150438
Cundill, G., & Fabricius, C. (2010). Monitoring the governance dimension of natural resource comanagement. Ecology and Society, 15(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03346-150115
De Pourcq, K., Thomas, E., Arts, B., Vranckx, A., Léon-Sicard, T., & Van Damme, P. (2015). Conflict in protected areas: who says co-management does not work? PLoS ONE, 10(12), e0144943. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144943
DeCaro, D. A., Chaffin, B. C., Schlager, E., Garmestani, A. S., & Ruhl, J. B. (2017). Legal and institutional foundations of adaptive environmental governance. Ecology and Society, 22(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09036-220132
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit. (Ed.) (2007). Multi-stakeholder management: Tools for stakeholder analysis: 10 building blocks for designing participatory systems of cooperation. Eschborn.
Dickman, A. J. (2010). Complexities of conflict: The importance of considering social factors for effectively resolving human-wildlife conflict. Animal Conservation, 13(5), 458–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00368.x
Distefano, E. (2005). Human-wildlife conflict worldwide: Collection of case studies, analysis of management strategies and good practices. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Ehrhart, S., Lang, J., Simon, O., Hohmann, U., Stier, N., Nitze, M., Heurich, M., Wotschikowsky, U., Burghardt, F., Gerner, J., & Schraml, U. (2016). Wildmanagement in deutschenNationalparken. BundesamtfürNaturschutz.
Ehrhart, S., & Schraml, U. (2018). Adaptive co-management of conservation conflicts - An interactional experiment in the context of German national parks. Heliyon, 4(2018), e00890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00890
Forestry Commission of Ghana. (2011). Mole National Management Plan, 2011–2016. Unpublished report. Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission.
Gerner, J., Selter, A., Heurich, M., Günther, S., & Schraml, U. (2012). How attitudes are shaped: Controversies surrounding red deer management in a national park. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 17(6), 404–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2012.680002
Glasl, F. (2013). Konfliktmanagement: EinHandbuchfürFührungskräfte, Beraterinnen und Berater. Haupt.
Harich, F. K., Treydte, A. C., Sauerborn, J., & Owusu, E. H. (2013). People and wildlife: Conflicts arising around the Bia Conservation Area in Ghana. Journal for Nature Conservation, 21(5), 342–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2013.05.003
Hill, C. M. (2015). Perspectives of “conflict” at the wildlife-agriculture boundary: 10 years on. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 20(4), 296–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2015.1004143
Inskip, C., & Zimmermann, A. (2009). Human-felid conflict: A review of patterns and priorities worldwide. Oryx, 43(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060530899030X
Kuckartz, U. (2012). Qualitative inhaltsanalyseMethoden, Praxis, Computerunterstützung. BeltzJuventa.
Lockwood, M. (2010). Good governance for terrestrial protected areas: A framework, principles and performance outcomes. Journal of Environmental Management, 91(3), 754–766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.10.005
Lüchtrath, A., & Schraml, U. (2015). The missing lynx—Understanding hunters’ opposition to large carnivores. Wildlife Biology, 21(2), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00068
Madden, F. (2004). Creating coexistence between humans and wildlife: Global perspectives on local efforts to address human–wildlife conflict. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 9(4), 247–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871200490505675
Marseille, M. (2004). Learning from wildlife conservation conflict: issues, actors and empowerment strategies: A case study at Mole National Park in Northern Ghana. Master thesis. Wageningen: Wageningen University.
McGinnis, M. D., & Ostrom, E. (2014). Social-ecological system framework: Initial changes and continuing challenges. Ecology and Society, 19(2). doi:https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06387-190230
Moore, C. W. (2003). The mediation process: Practical strategies for resolving conflict. Jossey-Bass.
Neumann, R. P. (2005). Making Political Ecology. Hodder Arnold.
Ostrom, E. (2007). A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(39), 15181–15187. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0702288104
Ostrom, E. (2009). A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science, 325(5939), 419–422. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1172133
Ostrom, E., & Cox, M. (2010). Moving beyond panaceas: a multi-tiered diagnostic approach for social-ecological analysis. Environmental Conservation, 37(04), 451–463. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892910000834
Plummer, R. (2009). The adaptive co-management process: an initial synthesis of representative models and influential variables. Ecology and Society, 14(2).
Plummer, R., & Armitage, D. R. (2007). A resilience-based framework for evaluating adaptive co-management: Linking ecology, economics and society in a complex world. Ecological Economics, 61(1), 62–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.09.025
Plummer, R., Armitage, D. R., & Loë, R. C. de. (2013). Adaptive comanagement and its relationship to environmental governance. Ecology and Society, 18(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05383-180121
Pruitt, D. G., Rubin, J. Z., & Kim, S. H. (2003). Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate and settlement. McGraw-Hill Education.
Redpath, S. M., Bhatia, S., & Young, J. C. (2015). Tilting at wildlife: Reconsidering human–wildlife conflict. Oryx, 49(02), 222–225. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605314000799
Redpath, S. M., Gutiérrez, R. J., Wood, K. A., Sidaway, R., & Young, J. C. (2015b). An introduction to conservation conflicts. In S. M. Redpath, R. J. Gutiérrez, K. A. Wood, & J. C. Young (Eds.), Conflicts in conservation. Navigating towards solutions (pp. 1–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Redpath, S. M., Gutiérrez, R. J., Wood, K. A., & Young, J. C. (Eds.). (2015c). Conflicts in conservation: Navigating towards solutions. Cambridge University Press.
Redpath, S. M., Young, J. C., Evely, A., Adams, W. M., Sutherland, W. J., Whitehouse, A., Amar, A., Lambert, R. A., Linnell, J. D. C., Watt, A., & Gutiérrez, R. J. (2013). Understanding and managing conservation conflicts. Trends in ecology & evolution, 28(2), 100–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.08.021
Reed, M. S. (2008). Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review. Biological Conservation, 141(10), 2417–2431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.07.014
Soliku, O., & Schraml, U. (2018). Making sense of protected area conflicts and management approaches: A review of causes, contexts and conflict management strategies. Biological Conservation, 222, 136–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.04.011
Soliku, O., & Schraml, U. (2020). From conflict to collaboration: The contribution of co-management in mitigating protected area conflicts in the Mole National Park (MNP), Ghana. Oryx, 54(4), 483–493. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000285
Spinage, C. (1998). Social change and conservation misrepresentation in Africa. Oryx, 32, 265–276. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3008.1998.d01-56.x
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity of intergroup behavior. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Nelson-Hall Publishers.
Teel, T. L., Manfredo, M. J., Jensen, F. S., Buijs, A. E., Fischer, A., Riepe, C., Arlinghaus, R., & Jacobs, M. H. (2010). Understanding the cognitive basis for human-wildlife relationships as a key to successful protected-area management. International Journal of Sociology, 40(3), 104–123. https://doi.org/10.2753/IJS0020-7659400306
Thomas, D. R. (2006). A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27(2), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214005283748
Williams, K., & Tai, H.-S. (2016). A multi-tier social-ecological system analysis of protected areas co-management in Belize. Sustainability, 8(2), 104. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8020104
Woodroffe, R., Thirgood, S. J., & Rabinowitz, A. (2005). People and wildlife: Conflict or coexistence? Cambridge University Press.
Yasmi, Y., Schanz, H., & Salim, A. (2006). Manifestation of conflict escalation in natural resource management. Environmental Science & Policy, 9(6), 538–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2006.04.003
Young, J. C., Marzano, M., White, R. M., McCracken, D. I., Redpath, S. M., Carss, D. N., Quine, C. P., & Watt, A. (2010). The emergence of biodiversity conflicts from biodiversity impacts: Characteristics and management strategies. Biodiversity and Conservation, 19(14), 3973–3990. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9941-7
Acknowledgements
We thank all actors who participated in the focus groups and interviews for their contributions as well as the moderators and interpreters for their support.
Funding
This work was supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation with funds from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, by the State Law on Graduate Funding Baden-Wuerttemberg, by the German Academic Exchange Service and by the Mueller-Fahnenberg Stiftung.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ehrhart, S., Soliku, O. & Schraml, U. Conservation conflicts in the context of protected areas in Ghana and Germany: commonalities, differences and lessons for conflict analysis and management. GeoJournal 87, 2787–2803 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-021-10401-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-021-10401-w