Human–wildlife conflict

As people occupy and transform more of the planet, the spatial overlap between humans and wildlife is rapidly increasing. Such overlap often brings the needs of humans and wildlife into opposition, with potentially catastrophic consequences. These negative interactions between people and wildlife threaten human lives, livelihoods and wellbeing, as well as disproportionally affecting economically vulnerable rural communities. Wild animals are often killed proactively or reactively to mitigate conflict, making conflict a leading driver of wildlife declines globally, particularly for large carnivores. The decline of one species can ripple throughout ecological communities and even alter nature's contribution to human well-being. Understanding and mitigating human-wildlife conflict is therefore one of the pressing conservation and sustainability challenges of our time.