Human-Wildlife Conflicts in East Africa
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Overall Information
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Introduction
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Objectives
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Programme
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Faculty
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Type of course: Advanced field course (Master and PhD level) endorsed by University of Helsinki – certificate provided.
Academic Coordinator: Dr. Mar Cabeza, Global Change and Conservation Lab, University of Helsinki, Finland. Field Coordinator in Kenya: Iñaki Abella Gutiérrez, director of Bio+ Language: English. Credits: 8 ETCS. Total number of hours: 210 Contact hours: 110 Supervised work: 30 Independent work: 70 Start date: 1st June 2019. Dates in Kenya: July 25th to August 5th. . End date: 15th September 2019. Conduct of the course: The course is composed of preparatory course readings, class lectures, field experiences with fauna and local communities, group work and individual work. To complete the course, students must participate in all activities of the field component, and write an essay before the course deadline. Course Fee: 1700€ (covers accommodation, meals, transfers within Kenya, permits and field guides, park fees; it does not include administrative fees, flights to Nairobi, travel insurance and visa). To apply to the course: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/95420/lomake.html |
Coordinated by:
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Humans and wildlife have coexisted since human origins. Wildlife is often valued as food, medicine, income from various services (e.g. tourism), or for its deeply rooted cultural meaning. Yet communities living in close proximity to wildlife frequently suffer negative consequences (crops being trampled or eaten; livestock being attacked, human lives threatened) . This creates important tensions and confrontations, which are increasing with a growing human population, while posing important obstacles to wildlife conservations as well as to local livelihoods. Human-Wildlife Conflicts have been documented all over the world, involving a wide variety of species. In East Africa, Human-Wildlife Conflicts are particularly prevalent and they are the most important reason for the decline of wildlife populations, owing to high densities of large vertebrates and high vulnerability of agropastoralists.
This course offers a remarkable hands-on experience to witness and understand the myriad of challenges faced in East Africa, while exploring alternative management approaches and their effectiveness. Over the course of two weeks, students will learn through a series of guest lectures, workshops and site visits with field work in two emblematic Kenyan regions with the most abundant wildlife yet different approaches to address coexistence and solve conflicts: the renown Maasai Mara and the Laikipia region with its prestigious research centre, Mpala. |
Expected learning outcomes:
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Preparative module:
Theory lectures, general (6h)
Field sessions (4-8 hours), either surveying wildlife, conducting focus groups or interviews with local community or witnessing conflicts. Field diary, workshops and debates. Practicing conflict resolution as a role playing exercise. Post-Field:
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Mar Cabeza
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Daniel Burgas
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Miquel Torrents-Tico
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Iñaki Abella Gutiérrez
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Senior Lecturer at the University of Helsinki and Principal Investigator, founder and leader of the Global Change and Conservation Lab. Mar completed her PhD at the university of Helsinki, after which she obtained a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship to join the Natural Sciences Museum- CSIC in Spain to work with climate change and conservation planning. Later she returned to Finland with a Fellowship of the Academy of Finland and joined the Centre of Excellence in Metapopulation Research as a PI. Although she started her research career as a theoretical ecologist, through teaching and collaboration in the tropics, she gradually shifted from theoretical mathematical models for on the ground conservation. She now leads the Global Change and Conservation Lab (http://gcc.it.helsinki.fi ), a highly international and interdisciplinary group that promotes academic research and postgraduate education in conservation science. The research conducted in the group is well recognized internationally and covers both ecological and social aspects of conservation, with several human-wildlife conflicts projects in Africa and Fennoscandia – bats, rats and large carnivores.
Mar has extensive field experience working at protected-areas’ frontiers, facing the challenges of protecting biodiversity while supporting local livelihoods, in Kenya and in Madagascar. In particular, she leads the project “Social-ecological changes in Sibiloi National Park and surroundings, Kenya: an integrated inter-disciplinary approach” which has revealed several of the conflicts that will be addressed in the course (see some outcomes from past expeditions here: https://sibiloi.wordpress.com/home/). An awarded lecturer, with more than 10 years’ experience in coordinating and teaching international field courses in the tropics, Mar will be responsible for the overall academic content of the course, and in particular for the introductory lectures in the field. Mar will also take care of all the administrative matters and queries for students associated to the Master in Ecology and Evolution of the University of Helsinki, and issue the requested certificates as the representative of University of Helsinki. |
Researcher affiliated to the University of Oslo and to the Global Change and Conservation Lab at the University of Helsinki. He gained his PhD in the University of Helsinki studying raptors affect biodiversity and their role as indicators of forest conservation value. He has been collecting field data for many years using a wide range of methods and technologies from arctic landscapes to tropical areas. Currently he is investigating human-wildlife conflicts in in a novel cooperative approach with indigenous pastoralists in Kenya, mostly focusing on the interaction of livestock with carnivores, herd mobility and the sustainable use of pasturelands. He has been lecturing in several theoretical courses and has 5 years of experience teaching conservation biology field courses in Madagascar.
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PhD student at the Global Change and Conservation Lab and a student member of the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki. He is a member of the Hyaena Specialist Group from the IUCN Species Survival Commission and a National Geographic Explorer. In addition, he is affiliated of ENCOSH, the first international sharing platform about Human - Wildlife Coexistence issues. His interest in conservation has grown along with the ever-increasing conflicts between humans and wildlife. His main interests lay on the human-carnivore conflict, especially with hyenas. In his PhD, he takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand the human-hyena interactions by investigating local attitudes and perceptions towards spotted hyenas, and comprehend spotted hyena ecology that links to the human-hyena conflict (e.g., animal movement, activity rhythm, stress hormone levels and diet across anthropogenic gradients). His fieldwork is conducted in Sibiloi National Park and Laikipia, Kenya.
He completed his MSc in Conservation and Management of Biodiversity at the University of Barcelona in 2012. He was a guest scientist at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. His interest in Human-Wildlife Interactions took him around the world from tropical rain forests to arid deserts, where he worked with different species: Costa Rica (olive Ridley sea turtles), Ecuador (common woolly monkeys), South Africa (meerkats, Damaraland mole-rats), Botswana (large predators), Namibia (chacma baboons) and Kenya (large carnivores). https://miqueltorrentstico.wordpress.com/ |
Iñaki is the field coordinator of the course in Kenya , where he has lived since 2010 and from where he directs all Bio+ activities.
With studies in biology, specialising in Zoology and with a Master's Degree in Nature Conservation, he has extensive experience in field work, having developed his career in more than eight countries with very different animals and ecosystems. Iñaki has worked with primates in Bolivia, with sea turtles in Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Mexico, with amphibians in Costa Rica and the Central African Republic, with mammals in Kenya and Spain, with whales and coral reefs in Mexico, with birds in Spain and Costa Rica. |