Bears, wolves, lions and other top predators have a long history of conflict with people — they can threaten our safety and kill livestock.
Academia can help foster better institutional arrangements, especially in places like Romania, India and Brazil, where there are substantial populations of people and large carnivores in shared spaces.
Academia has solutions to offer. Most environment-related professionals, like foresters, wildlife managers and conservation biologists, are trained in a range of academic institutions. Unfortunately, they are often taught narrowly within their sector or discipline.
However, all these future professionals passing through the same institutions provides a great opportunity for a broad change in how we approach difficult conservation challenges and conflict with wildlife.
A leopard being rescued from a well in rural India, where the animals interact with locals regularly. Photo credit: John Linnell
There are at least three ways in which academia could help address the challenges of human and large carnivore coexistence:
1. Break down the silos
2. Broaden the view
3. Work outside the academy
Large carnivores are critical for the health of ecosystems globally, and we need to provide them with enough space and tolerance to survive.
Source:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/academia-can-help-humans-and-large-carnivores-coexist-65377