Beasts on Fields. Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Nature-Culture
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Beasts on Fields. Human-Wildlife Confl icts in Nature-Culture Borderlands Tino Johansson Department of Geography Faculty of Science University of Helsinki Finland Academic dissertation To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Science of the University of Helsinki, for public criticism in the Auditorium E204 of the Physicum building (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2) on November 28th 2008, at 12 noon. I Publisher: Department of Geography Faculty of Science PO Box 64, FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland ISBN 978-952-10-5099-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-5100-5 (PDF) ISSN 0300-2934 http://ethesis.helsinki.fi Helsinki 2008 Hansaprint - Hansa Direct 2008 II Contents Abstract V Abstract in Finnish / suomenkielinen tiivistelmä VI Acknowledgements VII List of Figures IX List of Tables X List of Acronyms X Prologue 1 1. Introduction 4 1.1. Protected areas, human beings and habitat destruction 4 1.2. Background and justifi cation of the study 6 1.3. Research questions and methods 12 1.4. Geography of the Liwale district 19 1.4.1. Location and demography 20 1.4.2. Ethnic groups in the studied villages 24 1.4.3. Physical geography 28 1.4.4. Economical activities in the Liwale district 30 1.4.5. Wildlife as an important natural resource in the Liwale district 34 2. Th eoretical framework 42 2.1. Animal geographies 42 2.2. Cultural perception of space 48 2.3. Normative beliefs and acceptability of wildlife management actions 54 3. Human-wildlife confl icts 59 4. Th e origins of the nature-culture and human-animal divide 66 4.1. Th e mythical past 67 4.2. Domestication and agricultural revolution 70 4.3. Th e wilderness 72 4.4. Human-animal boundary 74 4.5. Pets and humans 76 5. Landscapes of conservation 77 5.1. Religious roots of the conquest of nature 77 5.2. Social construction of landscapes 79 5.3. National park model and the wilderness ideal 83 5.4. Countryside as a stage for wildlife conservation 87 5.5. Hunting and conservation 90 6. Wildlife conservation 95 6.1. Narratives of conservation 96 6.2. National parks – landscapes of consumption and resistance 97 6.3. Evolvement of community-based wildlife conservation 101 7. Community-based wildlife conservation in Africa 106 III 7.1. Overview of the approach in Africa 107 7.2. Community as an operational unit 108 7.3. Natural resource management and participation in CBC 111 7.4. Property right regimes in CBC 115 7.5. Values of wildlife in CBC 116 8. Community-based wildlife conservation in Tanzania 121 8.1. Protected areas and threats to wildlife conservation in Tanzania 122 8.2. Local government structure in Tanzania 125 8.3. Legislative guidelines for community-based conservation in Tanzania 128 8.3.1. Forest Policy 128 8.3.2. Wildlife Policy 129 8.3.3. Wildlife Management Area 131 8.3.4. Land Act and Village Land Act 137 9. Selous Conservation Programme – a CBC in the Liwale District 138 9.1. History of Selous Game Reserve 139 9.1.1. Early years of Selous Game Reserve 139 9.1.2. Selous Game Reserve as a battleground of human-wildlife confl icts 142 9.1.3. Wildlife conservation, the settlement program and removal of people from the reserve 144 9.1.4. Selous Game Reserve after independence 147 9.2. Selous Conservation Programme in the Liwale distric 155 9.2.1. Establishment of Selous Game Reserve buff er zones 159 9.2.2. Wildlife utilization in the Selous Conservation programme 162 9.3. Human-wildlife confl icts in the Selous Game Reserve buff erzones 163 9.3.1. A brief history of the human-wildlife confl icts in the Lindi region 163 9.3.2. Crop damage and killings of domestic animals by wildlife in the Liwale district 165 9.3.3. Problem animal control in the Liwale district 170 9.3.4. Human casualties of human-wildlife confl icts 172 9.3.5. Some explanations of crop raiding behaviour – a case of the African elephant 174 10. Results of the fi eld study in the Liwale district 175 10.1. Human-wildlife confl icts in the studied villages 176 10.2. Nature-culture boundaries in the Liwale district 183 10.3. Th e perceived image of rural African landscape 186 10.4. Animals in the perceived image of African countryside 188 10.5. Results of the Q-sorts of the civil servants 190 10.6. Discussion 195 Epilogue 204 References 207 IV Abstract Human-wildlife confl icts are today an integral part of the rural development discourse. In this research, the main focus is on the spatial explanation of these confl icts which is not a very common approach in the reviewed literature. My research hypothesis is based on the assumption that human-wildlife confl icts occur when a wild animal crosses a perceived borderline between the nature and culture and enters into the realms of the other. Th e borderline between nature and culture marks a perceived division of spatial content in our senses of place. Th e animal subject that crosses this border becomes a subject out of place meaning that the animal is then spatially located in a space where it should not be or where it does not belong according to tradition, custom, rules, law, public opinion, prevailing discourse or some other criteria set by human beings. An appearance of a wild animal in a domesticated space brings an uncontrolled subject into that space where humans have previously commanded total control of all other natural elements. A wild animal out of place may also threaten the biosecurity of the place in question. I carried out a case study in the Liwale district in south-eastern Tanzania to test my hypothesis during June and July 2002. I also collected documents and carried out interviews in Dar es Salaam in 2003. I studied the human-wildlife confl icts in six rural villages, where a total of 183 persons participated in the village meetings. My research methods included semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, questionnaire survey and Q- methodology. Th e rural communities in the Liwale district have a long-history of co-existing with wildlife and they still have traditional knowledge of wildlife management and hunting. Wildlife conservation through the establishment of game reserves during the colonial era still aff ects the human-wildlife confl icts in the Liwale district today. Th is study shows that the villagers perceive some wild animals diff erently in their images of the African countryside than the district and regional level civil servants do. From the small scale subsistence farmers’ point of views, wild animals continue to challenge the separation of the wild (the forests) and the domestics spaces (the cultivated fi elds) by moving across the perceived borders in search of food and shelter. As a result, the farmers may loose their crops, livestock or even their own lives in the confrontations of wild animals. Human-wildlife confl icts in the Liwale district are manifold and cannot be explained simply on the basis of attitudes or perceived images of landscapes. However, the spatial explanation of these confl icts provides us some more understanding of why human-wildlife confl icts are so widely found in Tanzania and across the world. Email: tino.johansson@helsinki.fi V Abstract in Finnish / suomenkielinen tiivistelmä Ihmisten ja villieläinten väliset ristiriidat ovat olennainen osa maaseudun kehityksen diskurssia. Tutkimus pyrkii selittämään näitä ristiriitoja spatiaalisesti osana kulttuurin ja luonnon välistä rajankäyntiä. Ihmisten ja villieläinten välisten ristiriitojen tutkiminen spatiaalisesta näkökulmasta pyrkii lisäämään tämän vähän tutkitun lähestymistavan merkitystä ristiriitojen ratkaisemisessa. Tutkimushypoteesinani on olettamus siitä, että ihmisten ja villieläinten väliset ristiriidat saavat alkunsa, kun villieläin ylittää ihmisten mieltämän rajalinjan luonnon ja kulttuurin välillä ja siirtyy ihmisen kontrolloimalle alueelle. Ihmisten määrittämä luonnon ja kulttuurin välinen rajalinja jakaa kahden erilliseksi koetun tilan väliset spatiaaliset sisällöt ja niihin liitetyt merkitykset. Ihmiset kokevat villieläimen siirtyvän pois luonnollisesta ympäristöstään, kun se ylittää tämän rajalinjan. Villieläimen läsnäolo ihmisten hallitsemassa ja kontrolloimassa tilassa rikkoo siellä vallinneen perinteisiin, sääntöihin, lakiin, julkiseen mielipiteeseen, vallitsevaan diskurssiin tai muihin ihmisten määrittämiin kriteereihin perustuvan järjestyksen. Villieläin edustaa subjektia, johon ihmisellä ei ole täydellistä kontrollia. Ilmaantuessaan ihmisten muokkaamaan kulttuuriympäristöön, jossa pyrkimyksenä on hallita kaikkia luonnon elementtejä, villieläin voi aiheuttaa läsnäolollaan myös bioturvallisuusriskin. Toteutin tapaustutkimuksen Liwalen piirikunnassa kaakkois-Tansaniassa kesä-heinäkuussa 2002. Tämän lisäksi keräsin lähteitä ja tein haastatteluja Dar es Salaamissa vuonna 2003. Tutkin ihmisten ja villieläimien välisiä ristiriitoja kuudessa maaseutukylässä, joissa tutkimukseen osallistui yhteensä 183 henkilöä. Käyttämiäni tutkimusmetodeja olivat puolistrukturoidut haastattelut, osallistava kartoitus, lomakekysely ja Q-metodi. Liwalen piirikunnan kyläyhteisöt ovat pitkään asuneet rinnan villieläimien kanssa, jonka vuoksi heillä on runsaasti perinnetietoa villieläinhallinnasta ja metsästyksestä. Kolonialismin aikana käynnistyneet villieläinten suojeluhankkeet ja perustetut riistansuojelualueet vaikuttavat vielä nykyisinkin ihmisten ja villieläinten välisten ristiriitojen taustalla. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kyläläiset mieltävät joidenkin villieläinten läsnäolon osana afrikkalaisen maaseudun mielikuvaansa eri tavalla kuin piirikunta- ja aluehallinnon virkamiehet. Pienviljelijöiden näkökulmasta villieläimet ylittävät alituisesti villin (metsät)