Attitudes of Local People Toward Wildlife Conservation: A Case Study From the Kashmir Valley
2015
Mir, Zaffar Rais | Noor, Athar | Habib, Bilal | Veeraswami, Gopi Govindan
People’s attitudes toward wildlife conservation can significantly affect the success of conservation initiatives. Understanding the factors influencing these attitudes is essential for designing strategies to alleviate human–wildlife conflict. Although this topic has been studied extensively across diverse regions, there has been no such study in the Kashmir Division of Jammu and Kashmir state, India. We surveyed 3 administrative units around Dachigam National Park through semistructured interviews (n = 384) to investigate the socioeconomic status of local people, the extent of economic damage caused by wild animals, and people’s attitudes toward wildlife conservation. Results, analyzed using a generalized linear model approach, indicated that about 75% of the respondents suffered crop damage, while 23% suffered livestock predation by wild animals. The majority of respondents expressed favorable attitudes toward wildlife, with only about 16% expressing a negative perception. Gender, crop damage, livestock predation, and total livestock holdings were the strongest variables influencing the attitudes of local people in the study area. The study identified the need to use appropriate mitigation measures to minimize economic damage by wildlife in order to reduce negative local attitudes toward wildlife conservation.
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