Print PageTigers (Panthera tigris) and humans are parts of coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) and affect each other reciprocally. Understanding the linkages between tigers (endangered throughout their range) and human populations across the borders of protected areas can reveal which conditions foster a sustainable coexistence between them. For instance, tiger habitat can be influenced by human activities (e.g., household construction, conversion to farmland) which are mediated by socioeconomics (e.g., income) and policies (e.g., forest management regime). Moreover, local tolerance towards tigers may decrease as the probability of negative tiger-human encounters increases with growing human/livestock populations. This research focuses on tiger-human interactions at Chitwan National Park (CNP) in Nepal and has three interrelated objectives: 1) evaluate how human factors, activities, and policies impact tiger habitat, 2) evaluate and map human tolerance to tigers, and 3) model the interrelationships between human factors and tiger habitat under different policy scenarios related to human population, household, and resource consumption patterns. To achieve these objectives, we use remotely-sensed data, household and individual surveys, ecological field data, and systems modeling and simulation.
Results/Conclusions
Data collected from infrared cameras set inside CNP and the nearby buffer zone (BZ) at the edge of park in 2010 indicate that tigers (24 individuals) frequently use areas within 500m of human settlements. Yet, tigers are significantly more active at night in the human-dominated BZ than in CNP, suggesting a temporal offset with human activities. Of all primary tiger prey species, only Hog deer (Axis porcinus) were significantly more abundant in CNP than in the BZ. Flora data (1996, 2000, 2007) and biophysical attributes derived from Landsat images (1989, 1999, 2009) indicate that changes in vegetation (important determinant of tiger habitat) are more dynamic in the BZ than in CNP. Vegetation changes in the study area are correlated with socioeconomics (e.g., decreasing number of farm animals per household), demographics (e.g., smaller households), and forest management policies (e.g., community forests). In addition, data from a survey of 499 people living near CNP in 2010 indicates that risk belief, perception, and intolerance of threats to livelihoods, health and safety are significantly associated with local tolerance towards tigers. We will integrate these results using systems modeling to develop a framework by which we can evaluate and understand the spatio-temporal interrelationships between humans and tigers at CNP. This framework, being the first of its kind, will be useful in managing other human-predator conservation conflicts in Asia.
