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As a solutions‐oriented discipline, our attention is often placed on the substance of conservation challenges. Ideally, conservation science is relevant for policy and practice, contributing relevant data to fill key knowledge gaps. Thus, the data value is not only determined by methodological rigor, but also by its usefulness. In this perspective, we contend that trust in the purpose and process of data collection is integral to evidence‐based conservation and threatened by parachute science. We describe the substance, process, and relationships involved in the establishment of a community‐based reporting network for evaluating conflict responses and interventions to wildlife damage. We demonstrate how reflection on the process of science can provide the foundation for meaningful collaboration. We illustrate how, as a multinational team, supporting local researchers to establish a community‐based program, trust and demonstration of a long‐term commitment are essential to avoid the pitfalls of parachute science. We describe the substance, process, and relationships involved in the establishment of a community‐based reporting network for evaluating conflict responses and interventions to wildlife damage. We illustrate how, as a multinational team supporting local researchers to establish a community‐based program, trust and demonstration of a long‐term commitment are essential to avoid the pitfalls of parachute science.

Giraffe (Giraffe spp.) are iconic wildlife species to Africa, yet relatively little conservation funding and research have been directed at protection of giraffe in the wild. A growing number of national governments and conservation organizations are implementing management strategies to address the threats that giraffe face. To inform these plans, there is a need for social science that examines the human pressures associated with decline of giraffe populations, including poaching and the use of giraffe parts. As the large majority of reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) range occurs outside formally protected areas, conservation plans must be made with pastoralist communities and other actors in northern Kenya where the land is shared between people, their livestock, and wildlife. The research presented in this dissertation was conducted as part of a community-based program focused on reticulated giraffe, called the Twiga Walinzi Initiative (“Giraffe Guards” in Swahili), and represents the first quantitative study on the human dimensions of giraffe conservation. Goals of the research project were to examine key cognitions to human-giraffe interactions (i.e. attitudes, beliefs, perceptions), assess relationships between certain cognitions within areas that adopt a community-based conservation approach, and understand the extent and drivers of giraffe meat and part usage. Face-to-face interviews were conducted at two study sites over survey periods in 2016/17 (n = 579) and 2019 (n = 680). Results from these studies provide insights to how pastoralist communities view and act toward local giraffe. Factors that significantly influenced support for giraffe conservation differed between study sites, suggesting that local context is important to shaping human-giraffe interactions (Chapter 2). For instance, perceived benefits had stronger influence on normative belief in communities more recently connected with wildlife-based tourism. The linkages between perceived benefits, attitudes, and behaviors were further explored by assessing the relationships between these concepts within a community-based conservation setting (Chapter 3). Findings suggest a positive association between perceived benefits and attitudes toward giraffe, but there was less evidence that perceptions of wildlife-related benefits influenced use of giraffe meat/parts. As human behavior is of central interest to conservation, we also assessed levels of giraffe meat consumption (Chapter 4) and determinants of intention to consume giraffe meat (Chapter 5). Specialized questioning techniques were utilized to estimate prevalence of giraffe meat consumption preceding the two surveys. Estimated prevalence of giraffe meat consumption declined after establishment of the Twiga Walinzi. Perceived behavioral control had stronger relative influence than attitudes and subjective norms on future intention to consume giraffe meat. Collectively, these research findings are relevant for applied giraffe conservation efforts and provide a framework for understanding human-giraffe interactions and associated threats in diverse global settings.

The terms ‘coexistence’, ‘tolerance,’ and ‘acceptance’ appear frequently in conservation literature, but lack consistent characterization, making them difficult to apply across intervention frameworks. This review aims to describe the common characterizations of these three terms using Africa-based research as a case study. Through systematic lexical searches, we identified 392 papers containing one or more of the three terms. We assessed their usage, definition, and measurement (or lack thereof) in wildlife conservation. Coexistence was used in 46% of papers, but was defined in only 2% and measured in 4%. Tolerance and acceptance were used in 63% and 61% of the papers in which they appeared, respectively, defined in 4% and 2%, and measured in 19% and 5%. These results confirm the lack of clear understanding of these concepts and evidence the need for a precise lexicon. This would allow conservationists to cohesively describe their work and increase replicability of research across contexts.

Three of the four newly distinguished giraffe species are in significant decline. Concern over the species' threat status prompted a proposal to list the giraffe, which is still recognized as a single species by the IUCN, in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). However, there is a distinct lack of quantitative data and research on the scale, extent and purpose of both illegal and legal hunting, and the use and/or trading of giraffe and their parts. As a first step towards addressing these knowledge gaps, we conducted a literature review as well as a specialist survey regarding the use and trade of giraffe. We found that the dynamics of legal and illegal trade and the use of giraffe parts vary throughout Africa, ranging from local consumption to cross border and international trade, and from ornamental adornment to medicinal and consumption use. While the CITES listing of giraffe provides a mechanism through which international trade can be monitored, our findings suggest that the majority of illegal hunting currently occurs domestically and only within certain giraffe populations. This article is the first step towards understanding the drivers and managing the associated impacts of unsustainable and illegal giraffe use and trade.

Scientists are increasingly using volunteer efforts of citizen scientists to classify images captured by motion‐activated trail cameras. The rising popularity of citizen science reflects its potential to engage the public in conservation science and accelerate processing of the large volume of images generated by trail cameras. While image classification accuracy by citizen scientists can vary across species, the influence of other factors on accuracy is poorly understood. Inaccuracy diminishes the value of citizen science derived data and prompts the need for specific best‐practice protocols to decrease error. We compare the accuracy between three programs that use crowdsourced citizen scientists to process images online: Snapshot Serengeti, Wildwatch Kenya, and AmazonCam Tambopata. We hypothesized that habitat type and camera settings would influence accuracy. To evaluate these factors, each photograph was circulated to multiple volunteers. All volunteer classifications were aggregated to a single best answer for each photograph using a plurality algorithm. Subsequently, a subset of these images underwent expert review and were compared to the citizen scientist results. Classification errors were categorized by the nature of the error (e.g., false species or false empty), and reason for the false classification (e.g., misidentification). Our results show that Snapshot Serengeti had the highest accuracy (97.9%), followed by AmazonCam Tambopata (93.5%), then Wildwatch Kenya (83.4%). Error type was influenced by habitat, with false empty images more prevalent in open‐grassy habitat (27%) compared to woodlands (10%). For medium to large animal surveys across all habitat types, our results suggest that to significantly improve accuracy in crowdsourced projects, researchers should use a trail camera set up protocol with a burst of three consecutive photographs, a short field of view, and determine camera sensitivity settings based on in situ testing. Accuracy level comparisons such as this study can improve reliability of future citizen science projects, and subsequently encourage the increased use of such data. We show that the accuracy levels of trail‐camera image classification by citizen scientists are affected by habitat type and trail‐camera set up. By comparing the accuracy results from three camera trap citizen science projects, we found that setting trail cameras to capture 3 images per burst, testing the appropriate camera sensitivity, and a shorter field of view resulting from dense vegetation may significantly improve citizen scientist image classification accuracy when compared to classifications by experts.