Long considered to be a source of pride and heritage to citizens and occupants of the vast landscape that encapsulates sub-Saharan Africa, the continent’s wildlife has been looked upon as an unequivocal feature of the land's beauty and the promise of the unique and indigenous flora and fauna it has to offer. In addition to this, their existence as tourist attractions provides a source of revenue to the countries that deem conservation beneficial. However, with the unprecedented changes to our world that have caused the wildlife population to dwindle by an average of 68 percent since 1970, has the harmony been permanently upset?
Evidently, wildlife numbers continue to decrease globally. A 2021 World Wildlife Foundation report, however, states that globally, conflict-related killing affects more than 75% of the world’s wild cat species, as well as large herbivores such as elephants. The management of the wetlands and protection areas across many national wildlife protection agencies fails to acknowledge both parties as active participants in the conflicts, with both sides experiencing casualties and damages.
As of November 2019, the Kenyan Great Rift Valley experienced rains that consequentially caused Lake Naivasha to swell, causing hippos to invade the shallow waters fishermen would use to earn their subsistence. Every year, it is estimated that hippos kill about 500 people, making them the world's second-deadliest mammal after humans. With the economic crisis brought about by COVID-19, jobs lost in the flower export business surrounding the lake were replaced by fishing. Moreover, Lake Baringo has expanded by over 60% in the last twelve years and threatens to merge with Lake Bogoria, which has swollen by 25%, halving the distance between the two lakes and submerging the riparian lands around each of them. The merging will be an ecological disaster as Baringo’s fresh waters are home to birds, fish, hippopotamuses, and crocodiles, whereas Lake Bogoria is salty. Data from the Ministry of Environment indicates that there have been 19 cases of crocodile attacks in villages surrounding Lake Bogoria and three in areas around Lake Nakuru since June 2020.
The flooding of the hippos grazing lands pushes the lake’s waters (as it is without an outlet) towards farms and homes around it. The dry land the hippos grazed upon had been illegally encroached upon prior to the heavy rains. In 2020, the lakeside town of Kihoto drowned, being a riparian settlement. This leads to dangerous encounters between the two species, most of which humans rarely leave unharmed, as about 29 to 87 percent of hippo attacks are fatal. With rampant illegal fishing evident by the number of unregistered boats, the Kenya Wildlife Service has been unable to put a stop to this. In thus doing, the situation becomes difficult to mitigate as both the human and wildlife communities have strong dependence on the lake for survival.
The people of Burundi have had a more varied experience with their wildlife, specifically crocodiles. With the country boasting freshwater bodies, their rivers and lakes are habitats to some of the world’s largest crocodiles. Perhaps the most infamous of the Nile crocodiles is Gustave, an unusually large man-eating reptile who is rumored to have killed 300 people and has been chronicled by Patrice Faye. More commonly, the crocodiles lay prey to humans, as crocodiles are killed and eaten. Crocodile numbers have plummeted along the banks of the Ruzizi River and Lake Tanganyika as a result of overfishing.
Burundi’s food security levels are disturbingly low, with 52 percent of children under five experiencing malnutrition; thus, the country’s inhabitants may turn to sources of food that may otherwise be seen as inappropriate. However, land to build a conservancy is difficult to come by, as Burundi is one of the most densely populated countries on the globe. This severely limits the efforts of wildlife conservationists such as Albert Ngendera, a Burundian citizen who saves crocodiles from hunters. A similar conflict is observed in the DRC, where the country’s rapidly growing population of over 70 million has an overwhelming dependence on natural resources for survival, with reports of up to 1.7 million tonnes of bushmeat being harvested annually from monkeys, antelopes, duikers, and wild boars.
North-western Namibia is home to an important population of elephants that have moved further inland past dry riverbeds in search for food and water. Elephants have moved closer to human settlements as a result of the availability of water, which has been a driving force behind the lack of adequate rainfall over the previous seven years. This occurrence is in spite of the local communities in the Kunene region being neither acclimatized nor capable of maintaining a peaceful relationship with the desert elephants. Poachers and trophy hunters continue to lay siege to one of the nation’s most iconic wildlife species, despite the existence of only two communities of desert elephants in the world. This, the aforementioned case, and several other cases throughout Sub-Saharan Africa pose a complex but quintessential question: how to ensure the safeguarding of both human and wildlife ecosystems while ensuring peaceful coexistence?
Relevant recommendations
The answer to this lies in the collective effort of the lawmakers and the general public.
Firstly, by the amendment and implementation of revised and improved legislation such as Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Act to effectively enhance the use and management of wildlife resources. As demonstrated in Mozambique, it may occasionally be possible to implement specific statutes to assist the locals of an area where problem species are present. Intensified anti-poaching patrols by wildlife authorities could help secure some wildlife conservation facilities, as is the case with the Congolese Wildlife Authority, which secured the Virunga National Park and aborted a daily loss of 89 hectares of forest to the illegal firewood harvestors.
Second, provide mass education to the local communities affected by wildlife invasions on specific action. These methods may be useful for a specific problem species, e.g., planting a barrier of chili crops to repel elephants. National wildlife services may also study wildlife movement patterns and employ tracking collars. Therefore, incidents of contact between man and animal may be managed. The stakeholders need to broaden their education to touch on building a sustainable economy through investing in green energy projects like the making of briquettes, as spearheaded by ICCN, to change Virunga’s people from their conventional reliance on charcoal for cooking, 90% of which would be fetched from Virunga National Park.
Finally, through the development of animal control units that are stationed close to the community, they may be able to respond promptly to any occurrence related to wildlife within their vicinity. The public may also be sensitized to the value of wildlife to the community. The Maasai tribe in Tanzania has been an aid in the tracking of endangered lions in the Serengeti National Park. This is in contrast to their famed ritual of ‘Ala-mayo, where the young men hunt lions to gain admittance to the warrior class named Moran. Through proper channels of education, they understand the necessity of keeping the big cat alive, to which their history is indelibly tied. As Steve Erwin says, ‘wildlife must be taught so that people may be touched. Humans want to save things they love.’
Though difficult, it has been proven that both worlds may co-exist peacefully and bountifully, but measures must be taken to ensure that the goal is achieved in our efforts to maintain human-wildlife co-existence. Only the bright reward of a future free from casualties or fatalities due to human-wildlife conflict can illuminate the path to peaceful coexistence.