Incentive Payments to Encourage Human-Lion Coexistence

Incentive Payments to Encourage Human-Lion Coexistence

Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a critical site for lion conservation. However, as a multi-use protected area, the NCA is also home to almost 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom are traditional pastoralists who rely almost exclusively on livestock for their livelihood. As a result of human-lion conflict and associated retaliatory killing of lions, lions have disappeared from much of their historical range within the NCA. Since 2011, KopeLion has worked to mitigate Ngorongoro’s human-lion conflict, including through implementation of the Lion Guardians model. KopeLion plans to complement their existing work through the establishment of a lion conservation incentive payment (CIP) program. In late 2019, a second grant was issued to KopeLion to strengthen their management team. This was designed to help overcome some of the HR challenges that affect small conservation organizations and increase their capacity to raise funds and effectively implement field conservation. The success of KopeLion’s work has resulted in more lions settling in areas where there are people and livestock and a subsequent grant will co-fund efforts to strengthen human-lion coexistence; keeping people and livestock safer and therefore lions safer.

Related Articles:

˙ The Lion Who Lost His Mane
˙ The Return of a Crater Born Lion
˙ Meet Lemunge of the Munge Pride