Assessing the Magnitude, Extent, Drivers and Consequences of Human-Wildlife Conflict on the Margins of Volcanoes National Park, northern Rwanda.
Shane Mc Guinness B.A. MSc.
As human populations grow, protected areas are put under increasing threat from resource extraction and associated loss of ecosystem services. Improved protection of some of these areas has led to growing populations of large animals within these, leading increasingly to interaction with neighbouring human populations including among others livestock depredation, crop raiding and transmission of zoonotic disease. This is particularly acute in the developing world where communities bordering protected areas are predominantly subsistence farmers and pastoralists.  This human-wildlife conflict (HWC) has the effect of both threatening livelihoods and reducing support for the conservation high-demand land.   
Volcanoes National Park (VNP), of northern Rwanda, is particularly at risk of this reduction of conservation support through HWC. Lying in the Albertine Rift Biodiversity Hotspot, it harbours endemic species of primate and concentrated but largely unknown biodiversity, but is bordered by the most heavily populated region of the most densely populated nation of mainland Africa. As a result, buffalo, mountain gorilla, golden monkey, porcupine and antelope are regular and highly damaging raiders of subsistence and cash crops on its margins.
This report outlines the steps thus far taken towards investigating human-wildlife conflict around VNP, drivers of this and its consequences felt by park-adjacent communities and conservation efforts. Adopting a mixed methods approach, initial qualitative stages involved key informant interviews, observational field walks and a series of gender-specific focus groups in 6 of the 12 park-adjacent Sectors. This phase then advised the development of a quantitative in-depth questionnaire, administered in the native language by a research assistant along forty 1 km-long transects running perpendicular to the VNP boundary. This also assessed the feasibility of novel mitigation in the form of a locally-run insurance fund. Transects were positioned to obtain the most accurate representation possible of socioecological variability along the park margin. In addition, systematic and long-term monitoring has been established along the park boundary in conjunction with VNP officials and 25 local data collectors trained in the use of handheld GPS units.
Qualitative investigation of VNP operations has revealed several worrying shortcomings which may be exacerbating the impact felt by local communities as a result of human-wildlife conflict.  These include lack of agricultural control, inadequate mitigation taken by national park staff and cultural marginalisation. Management of VNP seems to be solely directed at maximising tourism income, with little concerted and transparent efforts to improve local community conditions and effect improved conservation.
As of February 2012, the entire qualitative phase and half of the transects have been completed, yielding 80 interviews with an expected total of 170 by May 2012. Long-term monitoring has produced comprehensive data on human-wildlife conflict on park-adjacent land for the months January and February. A 12-month data set for this will be completed by December 2012. This project is thus on schedule for submission by September 2013.