IUCN SSC Guidelines on
Human-Wildlife Conflict  & Coexistence 

~ Coming Soon ~

What are the Guidelines on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence?

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The IUCN SSC Guidelines on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence, currently in preparation by the Specialist Group, will provide an essential guide to understanding and resolving human-wildlife conflict. The Guidelines will answer key questions such as:

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How can we better understand the complexities of human-wildlife conflict?

What are the best approaches and solutions that benefit people and wildlife?

Who needs to be involved in achieving lasting coexistence? 

​The Guidelines will provide the essential foundations and principles for good practice, with clear, practical guidance on how best to tackle conflicts and enable coexistence with wildlife. They have been developed for use by conservation practitioners, community leaders, decision-makers, researchers, government officers, and others. Focussing on approaches and tools for analysis and decision-making, they are not limited to any particular species nor region of the world.

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Why are Guidelines needed?

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Human-wildlife conflict is becoming more frequent, serious and widespread worldwide, often with devastating consequences for both people and wild animals. However, human-wildlife conflicts are notoriously challenging to resolve and many efforts to address these conflicts struggle to make progress. Challenges typically arise because:

• the unique cultural, political and economic contexts of each situation are poorly understood

• complicated relationships between the different groups of people involved are difficult to understand and address

• each case is unique and solutions are rarely transferable from one situation to another

• effective methods of damage and retaliation control may be socially unacceptable and/or financially unsustainable

• decision making processes are not inclusive or transparent

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What's in the Guidelines?

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The Guidelines will set out the fundamentals and principles of understanding and managing human-wildlife conflict. The document includes three core elements, aligned with the Species Conservation Cycle of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. The diagram below outlines some of the topics covered in the Guidelines.

Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Case Studies

To complement the Guidelines and illustrate key principles of human-wildlife conflict management, we are developing Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence case studies in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. Each case study has been developed with the aim of highlighting the process a project has taken to understand, plan and address various aspects of a human-wildlife conflict situation. The case studies can be found in our Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Library here.

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Get involved

To ensure the Guidelines are as clear, relevant and useful as possible, we would like to user-test the pilot version with practitioners, community leaders and decision makers around the globe. If you would like to trial and help improve a pre-publication pilot version of the Guidelines, please drop us a line at info@hwctf.org to register your interest as a reviewer.  

Get updates

For general updates about news and publications on human-wildlife conflict, including updates on the Guidelines, sign up to our quarterly email newsletter here.