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Conflicts between people over wildlife are widespread and damaging to both the wildlife and people involved. Such issues are often termed human–wildlife conflicts. We argue that this term is misleading and may exacerbate the problems and hinder resolution. A review of 100 recent articles on human–wildlife conflicts reveals that 97 were between conservation and other human activities, particularly those associated with livelihoods. We suggest that we should distinguish between human–wildlife impacts and human–human conflicts and be explicit about the different interests involved in conflict. Those representing conservation interests should not only seek technical solutions to deal with the impacts but also consider their role and objectives, and focus on strategies likely to deliver long-term solutions for the benefit of biodiversity and the people involved.

Attempts to minimize the effects of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) on conservation goals require an understanding of the mechanisms by which such conflicts are caused and sustained. This necessitates looking beyond the natural sciences to the human dimensions of wildlife management. Public dissemination of information regarding HWC occurs largely through the mass media. We conducted a content analysis of print media articles on human-leopard conflict in Mumbai, India. We sought to understand the framing of HWC and the changes in media coverage over a 10-year period (2001-2011) during which a large number of attacks on people prior to 2005 were followed by a program of trapping and relocation. After 2005, when there was a decrease in the level of conflict, the tone of English-language media reports changed. The perpetrator framing was over 5 times more likely before 2005, whereas a neutral framing was twice as likely after 2005. English-language and non-English-language print media differed significantly in their framing of HWC and in the kinds of solutions advocated. Our results also suggest the print mass media in Mumbai could be an influential conduit for content that diminishes HWC. These media outlets seem attentive to human-leopard conflict, capable of correcting erroneous perceptions and facilitating mitigation and effective management. We believe better contact and mutual understanding between conservation professionals and the mass media could be an important component of managing HWC. We further suggest that in such interactions conservation professionals need to be aware of cultural and linguistic differences in reporting within the country. Los intentos para minimizar los efectos del conflicto humanos-vida silvestre (CHVS) sobre las metas de conservación requieren del entendimiento de los mecanismos que causan tales conflictos y su persistencia. Esto obliga a mirar más allá de las ciencias naturales y considerar las dimensiones humanas del manejo de vida silvestre. La divulgación pública de información con respecto al CHVS ocurre generalmente a través de los medios de comunicación. Realizamos un análisis del contenido de artículos sobre el conflicto humanos-leopardo de Mumbai, India en medios impresos. Buscamos entender la conceptualización del CHVS y los cambios en la cobertura de los medios a lo largo de un periodo de diez años (2001-2011) durante el cual un gran número de ataques hacia personas previos a 2005 fueron seguidos por un programa de captura y reubicación. Después de 2005, cuando hubo una disminución en el nivel de conflicto, el tono de los reportajes de los medios en inglés cambió. La conceptualización del causante fue más de 5 veces más probable antes de 2005, mientras que la conceptualización neutral fue dos veces más probable después de 2005. Los medios impresos, tanto en inglés como en otros idiomas, diferían significativamente en la conceptualización del CHVS y en el tipo de soluciones promovidas. Nuestros resultados sugieren que los medios impresos en Mumbai podrían ser un conducto influyente para contenidos que disminuyen el CHVS. Estos medios parecen estar atentos al conflicto humano-leopardo, siendo capaces de corregir percepciones erróneas y facilitar la mitigación y el manejo efectivo. Creemos que un mejor contacto y entendimiento mutuo entre los profesionales de la conservación y los medios de comunicación podría ser un importante componente para el manejo del CHVS. Sugerimos que en tales interacciones los profesionales de la conservación necesitan estar al tanto de las diferencias culturales y lingüísticas en los reportajes dentro del país.

Of the goals and targets specified by the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Target 3, often referred to as “30 × 30,” has garnered widespread attention globally. In this paper, we critique India's potential to meet this target. We find that with its vast network of ecosystems that are under some form of protection and through the recognition of other effective area‐based conservation measures sites, India has the potential to meet the quantitative target of conserving and managing at least 30% of its area by 2030. However, the qualitative attributes of the target might be more difficult to realize owing to several challenges, such as inadequate landscape connectivity, insufficient representation of habitats in the current protected area model, and the exacerbation of socioeconomic vulnerabilities of resource‐dependent communities. To achieve strategic, inclusive, and equitable conservation, we suggest a four‐pronged approach involving landscape‐level biodiversity conservation, socially just and collaborative safeguarding of biodiversity, and relevant policy (re)formulation, informed and underlain by long‐term research and impact monitoring. Although we focus on India, the issues we discuss are of broader relevance, especially for countries across the Global South that are also likely to be significantly impacted by the implementation of the target.

People’s views and values for wild animals are often a result of their experiences and traditional knowledge. Local folklore represents a resource that can enable an understanding of the nature of human-wildlife interactions, especially the underlying cultural values. Using archival searches and semi-structured interviews, we collected narratives about the ibex ( Capra sibirica ) ( n = 69), and its predators, the wolf ( Canis lupus ) ( n = 52) and the snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ) ( n = 43), in Ladakh, India. We compared these stories to those of a mythical carnivore called seng ge or snow lion ( n = 19), frequently referenced in local Tibetan Buddhist folklore and believed to share many of the traits commonly associated with snow leopards (except for livestock depredation). We then categorized the values along social-cultural, ecological and psychological dimensions. We found that the ibex was predominantly associated with utilitarianism and positive symbolism. Both snow leopard and wolf narratives referenced negative affective and negative symbolic values, though more frequently in the case of wolves. Snow leopard narratives largely focused on utilitarian and ecologistic values. In contrast, snow lion narratives were mostly associated with positive symbolism. Our results suggest that especially for snow leopards and wolves, any potentially positive symbolic associations appeared to be overwhelmed by negative sentiments because of their tendency to prey on livestock, unlike in the case of the snow lion. Since these values reflect people’s real and multifarious interactions with wildlife, we recommend paying greater attention to understanding the overlaps between natural and cultural heritage conservation to facilitate human-wildlife coexistence.

Humans have lived alongside and interacted with wild animals throughout evolutionary history. Even though wild animals can damage property, or injure humans and domesticated animals, not all interactions between humans and wildlife are negative. Yet, research has tended to focus disproportionately on negative interactions leading to negative outcomes, labelling this human–wildlife conflict. Studies have identified several factors, ranging from gender, religion, socio-economics and literacy, which influence people's responses to wildlife. We used the ISI Web of Knowledge database to assess quantitatively how human–wildlife interactions are framed in the scientific literature and to understand the hypotheses that have been invoked to explain these. We found that the predominant focus of research was on human–wildlife conflict (71%), with little coverage of coexistence (2%) or neutral interactions (8%). We suggest that such a framing is problematic as it can lead to biases in conservation planning by failing to consider the nuances of people's relationships with wildlife and the opportunities that exist for conservation. We propose a typology of human responses to wildlife impacts, ranging from negative to positive, to help moderate the disproportionate focus on conflict. We suggest that standardizing terminology and considering interactions beyond those that are negative can lead to a more nuanced understanding of human–wildlife relations and help promote greater coexistence between people and wildlife. We also list the various influential factors that are reported to shape human–wildlife interactions and, to generate further hypotheses and research, classify them into 55 proximate (correlates) and five ultimate (mechanisms) factors.

Currently, extensive research is being conducted in the application of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms in the medical domain and one such area is classifying Parkinson’s Patients. Feature extraction methods play a critical part in the use of ML techniques in providing better accuracies. The earlier studies have used various feature extraction techniques like Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA), Region of Interest (ROIs), etc. This paper deals with the use of two feature extraction techniques - Canonical Independent Component Analysis (CanICA) and Dictionary Learning (DL) for the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) modality. Region of Interest (ROI) extraction of connected components and dimensionality reduction algorithms further refine the features. The features extracted are then applied to the Machine Learning models for the classification of individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease. The methodology adopted in the research provided accuracy of 87.5% and 86.6% using the CanICA and DL techniques respectively. The accuracies obtained are found to be better than the other research conducted using ML algorithms for the MRI data.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed deep crevices in India’s predominantly informal economy, the extent of urban dependence on low-income migrant workers, and the consequent impact on the livelihood of India’s sizable migrant population. Much of the literature on migration has focused on migration patterns, the push and pull factors that influence migration decisions and the economic benefits of remittances sent back home. However, the impact of migration goes beyond economic gains. There are consequent changes in the role of the household members left behind. This thesis examines whether male out-migration has an impact on the autonomy of married women left behind in households using the Indian Human Development Survey-II from 2011-2012. Our risk-adjusted results suggest a positive relationship between male out-migration and physical autonomy and the decision-making autonomy of married women within households. There is a negative relationship between male out-migration and the political autonomy and economic autonomy of married women. However, the statistical significance of these relationships varies for different dimensions of autonomy.

The threat posed by large carnivores to livestock and humans makes peaceful coexistence between them difficult. Effective implementation of conservation laws and policies depends on the attitudes of local residents toward the target species. There are many known correlates of human attitudes toward carnivores, but they have only been assessed at the scale of the individual. Because human societies are organized hierarchically, attitudes are presumably influenced by different factors at different scales of social organization, but this scale dependence has not been examined. We used structured interview surveys to quantitatively assess the attitudes of a Buddhist pastoral community toward snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and wolves (Canis lupus). We interviewed 381 individuals from 24 villages within 6 study sites across the high‐elevation Spiti Valley in the Indian Trans‐Himalaya. We gathered information on key explanatory variables that together captured variation in individual and village‐level socioeconomic factors. We used hierarchical linear models to examine how the effect of these factors on human attitudes changed with the scale of analysis from the individual to the community. Factors significant at the individual level were gender, education, and age of the respondent (for wolves and snow leopards), number of income sources in the family (wolves), agricultural production, and large‐bodied livestock holdings (snow leopards). At the community level, the significant factors included the number of smaller‐bodied herded livestock killed by wolves and mean agricultural production (wolves) and village size and large livestock holdings (snow leopards). Our results show that scaling up from the individual to higher levels of social organization can highlight important factors that influence attitudes of people toward wildlife and toward formal conservation efforts in general. Such scale‐specific information can help managers apply conservation measures at appropriate scales. Our results reiterate the need for conflict management programs to be multipronged.

Conflicts between people over wildlife are widespread and damaging to both the wildlife and people involved. Such issues are often termed human–wildlife conflicts. We argue that this term is misleading and may exacerbate the problems and hinder resolution. A review of 100 recent articles on human–wildlife conflicts reveals that 97 were between conservation and other human activities, particularly those associated with livelihoods. We suggest that we should distinguish between human–wildlife impacts and human–human conflicts and be explicit about the different interests involved in conflict. Those representing conservation interests should not only seek technical solutions to deal with the impacts but also consider their role and objectives, and focus on strategies likely to deliver long-term solutions for the benefit of biodiversity and the people involved.

Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) presents a growing challenge to conservation and development worldwide. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and experts on human–wildlife coexistence strategies have responded to this challenge by developing a holistic, globally applicable approach to HWC management that can be tailored to specific local, regional, or national contexts. Its framework addresses the complexity of essential HWC management and long‐term coexistence strategies and is implemented in a structured yet contextualized step‐by‐step sequence by a team of facilitators and multiple stakeholders. The C2C: Conflict to Coexistence Approach centers on four principles (tolerance is maintained, responsibility is shared, resilience is built, holism is fundamental), four outcomes (wildlife thrives alongside human presence, habitat sufficient to maintain viable wildlife populations, people able and willing to live alongside wildlife, livelihoods/assets secured against presence of wildlife), and six HWC management elements (policy and governance, understanding interactions, prevention, response, mitigation, monitoring) that are to be implemented in an integrated way. It is currently undergoing testing in diverse pilot sites across three continents and demonstrating positive initial results. Here, we share the framework and methodology of the approach and initial results and experiences from these pilot sites. We introduce the C2C:Conflict to Coexistence Approach, with its holistic and integrated framework and globally applicable methodology for the management of human–wildlife conflict (HWC) that can be tailored to specific local, regional, or national contexts. Its framework addresses the complexity of essential HWC management and long‐term coexistence strategies and is implemented in a structured yet contextualized step‐by‐step sequence by a team of process facilitators involving multiple stakeholders. The video summary is uploaded to our website on human‐wildlife conflict, which can be found here: Human Wildlife Conflict