Lessons learned from community engagement and participation in fostering coexistence and minimizing human-wildlife conflict in Ghana

Human-wildlife-conflicts (HWCs) threaten wildlife conservation and livelihoods, particularly around biodiversity hotspots, such as Ghana's Bia Biosphere Reserve (BBR). Because wildlife raids farms or preys on livestock, such conflicts cause economic losses to farmers, psychological distress to communities, and social tensions between stakeholders, leading to retaliation-killing or injuring wildlife. Nonetheless, traditional approaches to HWC management, such as physical barriers, buffer zones, scare tactics, and non-lethal wildlife deterrents, are ineffective in addressing the problem. The study investigates HWCs in five communities through case studies involving focus groups, interviews, and on-site observations to understand the effects of wildlife-related incidents on these villages, how stakeholders accept and tolerate wildlife issues, and assess the effectiveness of the community engagement and participation (CEP) approach as a potential solution. The findings show that although CEP has the potential to mitigate HWCs and promote coexistence, the lack of involvement of communities substantially hinders the success of conservation efforts and addressing HWCs, which have substantial ecological, economic, social, and psychological impacts on communities near the BBR. Also, farmers' level of acceptance is substantially affected by the perceived economic benefits derived from the reserve. A crucial lesson learned is that involving communities in wildlife management can be more challenging and demands stakeholder cooperation and trust-building. The study recommends that the Ghana government consider (a) fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility among communities by actively and meaningfully involving them in designing and implementing wildlife management and (b) implementing policies that prioritize creating alternative livelihood opportunities for communities living in the BBR area.