Scope and plan out the Fellowship: Following the delays occasioned by my personal health issues, the project timelines shifted slightly to allow me to focus on key deliverables within the remaining period. The research activities organised and accomplished included:
Between May and October 2022: Desk-based and online work and building on previously collected data on human-wildlife-infrastructure interactions (see the progress below); land-use land cover change analysis using freely available online data sources (Google Earth Engine) (see the progress below); training and capacity building, workshops/conferences and meetings/collaborations within York and broadly within the UK that require little or no long distance travelling or through online interactions (see academic citizenship below).
Between November and December 2022: The project undertook comprehensive in-person meetings, workshops and focus group discussions with select actors and community groups inKenya. These activities aimed to collect data on human-elephant-infrastructure interactions building on the desk-based land-use land cover analysis outputs (maps), share preliminary outcomes of the desk-based analyses with stakeholders and plan future engagements in Kenya and the University of York.
Below is the status of the activities: Develop manuscript on human-wildlife conflict and infrastructure: A manuscript titled: “Influence of linear transportation infrastructure on human-wildlife conflict in Shimba Hills and Tsavo ecosystems, Southern Kenya: does distance matter” has been submitted for consideration in Systematics and Biodiversity Journal.
Develop manuscript on human-wildlife conflict and potential management intervention: A draft outline of a paper on human-elephant conflict mitigation across Africa has been developed to assess the state of conflict mitigation including efficacy and uptake among actors and communities. The paper, based on a literature review, will build on the work done by the IUCN’s Hoare et al., (2015) that collated the activities over 20 years.
Develop insights into land use change across the greater Tsavo: A LULCC map was produced and used in participatory workshops in Kenya in December 2022. The process will be replicated for 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020 with the aim of producing historical LULCC maps for subsequent analyses.
Discussions with Kenya-based partners including the DRSRS on access to elephant census data was completed and all the relevant data was obtained.
