The perceptions of the local peoples on the trends of the illegal practices inside and outside Dhati Wolel national park in west Ethiopia

Abstract

The human-wildlife interactions are critical for biodiversity conservation mainly in protected areas. Here, we examined the local community perceptions of illegal activities occurring within and around Dhati Wolel National Park, located in Western Ethiopia. By understanding the perspectives of the local community, we aim to gain insights into the extent, impacts, and drivers of these illicit practices by conducting combinations of surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions. Furthermore, we analyzed the land use changes between the years 2006 and 2020. We tested how the perceptions of local people towards the trends of illegal practices such as hunting, logging, fire occurrences, and illegal settlements are associated with the boundary locations (inside vs. outside) of the park using a Pearson's Chi-square within R program. The results revealed significant associations of the local peoples’ perceptions and the location of inside and outside boundaries of the park (p<0.003). Accordingly, 86.5 % of the respondents living outside the park and 39.2 % living inside the park reported an increasing trend in illegal hunting. The result of the change detection also showed an increasing trend in agricultural expansion. Overall, the perceptions of the local people are dependent and mediated by the competition for resources and thus mechanisms need to be sought to minimize the illegal practices in the park. The findings of this study have important implications for developing context-specific approaches to combat illegal activities and promote sustainable coexistence between the local community and the protected area.