Supporting sustainable human-wildlife coexistence

Supporting sustainable human-wildlife coexistence

Dr Kimberley Hockings, a Biosciences lecturer and conservation science researcher at Exeter, leads critical research into human-chimpanzee coexistence in equatorial Africa.

With chimpanzees generally living in close proximity to humans, Kimberley’s research has been building understanding of how chimps modify their behaviour in response. She also identifies potential conflicts that can occur between the two groups and engages local stakeholders in the development of appropriate and sustainable conservation solutions.

Kimberley collaborates directly with the Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP) and local communities in Guinea-Bissau, which means she’s able to have real conservation impact on the ground.

For example her research is helping to understand chimpanzee distribution across Guinea-Bissau, educate children so they can continue to play without provoking chimpanzee attacks, identify crop planting strategies that protect farmers’ harvests, and understand the dynamics of disease transmission between humans and other primates.

Kimberley said: "In many areas hunting chimpanzees is seen as taboo and local people are actually incredibly tolerant in their interactions. Once you start to understand how local people value wildlife and the environment and how chimpanzees modify their behaviour to living alongside people, you can make small changes or introduce protocols that reduce or remove any conflict."

Ultimately, by promoting human-wildlife coexistence, the research can protect this critically endangered species without a negative impact on the local communities.

Kimberley works in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau, which is a biodiversity hotspot, but its remaining forest fragments are at risk of becoming further isolated as a matrix of agricultural plantations, roads, and human settlements continue to expand. Despite local tolerance towards sympatric wildlife including the critically-endangered western chimpanzee, the impact of human disturbance on the behaviour and future survival of this, the most northwestern population of chimpanzees in Africa, is unknown.

Currently we are seeking funding for PhD studentships to develop the programmes on the ground, and to conduct extensive data analysis of additional information that has not yet been possible to include with current resources.

Can you help us protect one of our closest relatives?