Working out how humans can live peacefully with wild animals

Elephants crossing a plantation road in the Lower Kinabatangan region in Sabah. Elephants and tigers are increasingly coming into conflict with humans as forests are developed and wildlife lose their habitats and food. — Filepic/The Star

MALAYSIAN conservationists were among over 500 people from 70 countries who gathered for the first-ever global summit on human-wildlife conflict in Britain recently. Held in Oxford from March 30 to April 1, 2023, the three-day International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence was also attended by representatives from governments, businesses, academia, and community groups.

The summit also saw the publication of the IUCN SSC Guidelines on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence. The Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a science-based network of more than 10,500 of volunteer experts from almost every country in the world working on conserving nature.