Abstract:
Conflicts between humans and wildlife are a paramount threat to conservation of flora
and fauna around the world. For instance, in Kenya, with much of the wildlife living
outside protected areas, enhanced and sustainable coexistence between people and
wildlife has been a challenge. On the contrary humans expose themselves to wildlife
through poaching or settling along wildlife areas hence amplifying conflicts with
wildlife. The main objective of the study was to assess the impact of the Aberdare
electric fence on human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in Amboni area, Nyeri County, Kenya.
The target population was Amboni community with 11 villages. The study used
purposive sampling to select three villages (Kiguru, Ex-pages and Mutishieni). A 30%
of household from each village was computed giving a sample size (n=195). Data
collection involved questionnaires and interviews, with SPSS v25 used for analysis.
Results from paired t-test analysis showed that paired sample test had negative t values
and, therefore, significant for all the pairs. Only two of the pairs showed non-significant
values (P > 0.05). It was evident that variable changes for 7 of the paired differences
(type of crop damage, animal involved, land size affected, causal wild animal, domestic
animal depredated, physical infrastructure destroyed and access to natural resources in
the park) were statistically significant with their p-values less than 0.05. However,
results of estimated losses (M = -0.03, SD = 0.67, t (155) = -0.445) and income earned
(M = 0.03, SD = 0.43, t (155) = -0.686) did not have a statistical significance change
as a result of the electric fence installation. The research concluded that the electric fence
installed along the boundaries of Aberdare National Park especially at the Amboni
community had reduced some of the perennial human-wildlife conflicts than was
experienced before. The electric fence has facilitated reduction in the crop damages,
livestock depredation, reduction in affected farm coverage and reduction in property losses. The research recommends the government, travel industry investors, and NGOs
to support KWS in establishing a compensation or insurance fund to cover local
community losses caused by wildlife damage, particularly from primates which are not
covered by the wildlife compensation scheme.
