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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Social scientific perspectives on the understanding and management of conflicts between humans about wildlife

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Conflicts between people over wildlife and its management can be very acute, withnegative impacts on livelihoods, relationships, wellbeing and conservation. There is muchwe can learn from social sciences both in the better understanding of conflicts in terms ofwho the actors are, what their values, attitudes, goals and positions are, and the contextwithin which the conflicts occur, but also in testing out, evaluating and implementingapproaches for the management of conflicts. In this talk, I will start with an overview ofwhen and how social sciences can feed into conflict science, before outlining examplesfrom a range of different contexts, including the return of wolves in Italy, a One Healthapproach in India to understand and address a zoonotic disease, controversies aroundreintroductions in Scotland, conflict transformation processes in France around pesticideuse, and a community-based conservation programme around snow leopard conservationin the Himalayas. Approaches explored in these different contexts will include socialnetwork analysis, the community voice method, multi-criteria decision analysis,transformation labs, and narratives. I will end with a reflection on conflict transformation asa theoretical and practical approach that sees conflicts are a positive motor for change.