by Climate change and other human-caused environmental factors may increase the risks of elephant-human conflict in the future, according to new research.
In one of the first studies to look at the impact of global warming on interactions between humans and other large mammal species, the researchers mapped the risk of human-elephant conflict in elephant habitats. The results show that conflict situations are likely to occur more frequently as temperatures rise and as suitable elephant habitats are invaded, according to a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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The researchers compared data on human population density, cropland density and the range of Asian and African elephants, finding that the risk of conflict for African and Asian elephants increased by 2050 under various scenarios, Patrick said. Roehrdanz, director of climate change and biodiversity at Conservation International, an environmental nonprofit. , said ABC News.
For the purpose of the paper, human-elephant conflict is defined as interactions between humans and elephants that have negative outcomes for either party, Mia Guarnieri, a wildlife biologist and the paper’s lead researcher, told ABC News. One example is crop predation, in which elephants eat crops and farmers promptly kill them in retaliation, Guarnieri said.
“The main result we observed was that there is a net increase in the risk of conflict for these two species as climate change progresses and that increase was greater under the scenario where there were higher emissions and higher barriers to conservation work,” Guarnieri said.
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A lot of conflict with elephants centers around agriculture — especially farms that grow seed corn or millet, some of the elephants’ favorite crops, Guarnieri said. When crop predation occurs, the elephant often loses its life and the livelihood of farmers is also affected, she said.
When conflict occurs, it can have a negative impact on local conservation efforts for a species whose population has declined dramatically in recent years — often due to habitat loss and the ivory trade.
Elephants are behaviorally complex and will respond to different climatic pressures, such as water availability, Roehrdanz said. These changes will then affect their movement, changing the paths they take, he said.
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The regions where human-to-human conflicts occur are the East Central Africa clusters for African elephants and India for Asian elephants, Guarnieri said. The risk of conflict is expected to increase along the northern limit of the range of Asian elephants, she said, adding that humans can restrict that range.
“Given the opportunity, elephants would be more widespread than they are now,” said Roehrdanz.
The study, a collaboration between Conservation International and the University of California, Santa Barbara, is part of a broader initiative that looks at the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and how to plan for conservation accordingly, Roehrdanz said. Much of the work is focused on anticipating where species might move in response to changing climate conditions, he explained.
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The results validate the notion that the effects of climate change may influence the conflict between elephant species and humans, Guarnieri said. The study also emphasizes that people need to take a closer look at mitigating some of the potential harm associated with the interactions, she said.
“There is still a lot of work to be done in the future regarding the precise responses of elephants and other animals as well – how they will respond to climate change and how that relates to the likelihood of conflict,” said Roehrdanz.
Global warming could increase the risk of human-elephant conflict, say researchers appeared first on abcnews.go.com
