Strategic management of livestock to improve biodiversity conservation in African savannahs: a conceptual basis for wildlife–livestock coexistence

By Richard W.S. Fynn, David J. Augustine, Michael J.S. Peel and Michel de Garine _ Wichatitsky

Summary

1. African savannas are complex socio-ecological systems with diverse wild and domestic herbivore assemblages, which adapt spatially to intra- and interannual variation in forage quantity and quality, predation and disease risks.
2. As African savannas become increasingly fragmented by growing human populations and their associated ecological impacts, adaptive foraging options for wild and domestic herbivore populations are correspondingly limited, resulting in declining wildlife populations and impoverished pastoral societies. In addition, competition for grazing by expanding domestic herbivore populations threatens the viability of wild herbivore populations occupying similar grazing niches.
3. Conservation initiatives are further impacted by conflicts between wildlife and local communities of people who often receive little benefit from adjacent protected areas, creating conflict between the livelihood-orientated goals of communities and the conservation-oriented goals of the international community and those with vested interests in wildlife. Conservation strategies facilitating the alignment of these opposing goals of communities and conservationists are needed. 

Full Article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12591/epdf