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Project

Canada-South Africa trilateral Research Chair in climate change and human-wildlife interactions
 

Uganda
Project ID
108570
Total Funding
CAD 748,936.00
IDRC Officer
Ann Weston
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
60 months

Programs and partnerships

Foundations for Innovation

Lead institution(s)

Project leader:
Lauren J. Chapman
Canada

Summary

Decreasing food availability for wildlife is likely to exacerbate the impacts of climate change on communities living near national parks.Read more

Decreasing food availability for wildlife is likely to exacerbate the impacts of climate change on communities living near national parks. People living next to national parks and areas designed to protect biodiversity may argue that wild animals trespass on their lands, while conservation biologists stress that the ever-growing human population encroaches upon wild animal habitat, threatening their very existence and undermining the original purpose of the parks. Crop damage by park-protected animals is a significant risk for farms that are close to the parks. This conflict often leads to communities retaliating by killing animals or aiding poachers, which is a problem for at-risk and declining species such as elephants.

This project focuses on human-wildlife interactions, notably involving the rural poor of tropical countries, and how they will be affected by climate change. Using research based at Makerere University’s biological field station near Kibale National Park in Uganda, this project will aim to predict how climate change will exacerbate such conflicts, and design and test measures to mitigate climate change impacts on the rural poor and wildlife. The project involves a trilateral partnership between lead researchers at McGill University, the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and Makerere University. The project will rely on existing collaborations and on both shared and complementary expertise of the three principal investigators across many areas such as ecology, conservation, and human-wildlife interaction.

This project is expected to strengthen the biological field station’s research capabilities, and to train graduate students from the three countries, who will benefit from mobility and exposure to a wide variety of ideas and perspectives. The genesis of the project is a collaborative effort to pilot a first set of trilateral partnerships between Canada, South Africa, and another country in sub-Saharan Africa, building on existing research chairs in Canada and South Africa, and supporting the role of South Africa to contribute to world-class research on the continent. The modalities were co-developed by IDRC and the National Research Foundation of South Africa.

Research outputs

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Article
Language:

English

Summary

Background: Tropical forests are repositories of much of the world’s biodiversity and are critical for mitigation of climate change. Yet, the drivers of forest dynamics are poorly understood. This is in large part due to the lack of long-term data on forest change and changes in drivers. Methodology: We quantify changes in tree abundance, diversity, and stand structure along transects first enumerated in 1978 and resampled 2019 in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We tested five predictions. First, based on the purported role of seed dispersal and herbivory and our quantification of changes in the abundance of frugivores and herbivores, we tested two predictions of how faunal change could have influenced forest composition. Second, based on an evaluation of life history strategies, we tested two predictions concerning how the forest could have changed following disturbance that happened prior to written history. Finally, based on a 50-year climate record, we evaluate the possible influence of climate change on forest dynamics. Results: More trees were present on the assessed transects in 2019 (508) than in 1978 (436), species richness remained similar, but diversity declined as the number of dominant species increased. Rainfall increased by only 3 mm over the 50 years but this had not significant effect on forest changes measured here. Annual average monthly maximum temperature increased significantly by 1.05 °C over 50 years. The abundance of frugivorous and folivorous primates and elephants increased over the 50 years of monitoring. Neither the prediction that an increase in abundance of seed dispersing frugivores increases the abundance of their preferred fruiting tree species, nor that as an increase in folivore abundance causes a decline in their preferred species were supported. As predicted, light-demanding species decreased in abundance while shade-tolerant species increased as expected from Kibale being disturbed prior to historical records. Finally, while temperature increased over the 50 years, we found no means to predict a priori how individual species would respond. Conclusions: Our study revealed subtle changes in the tree community over 40 years, sizable increases in primate numbers, a substantial increase in the elephant population and an increase in local temperature. Yet, a clear picture of what set of interactions impact the change in the tree community remains elusive. Our data on tree life-history strategies and frugivore/herbivore foraging preferences suggest that trees species are under opposing pressures.

Author(s)
Chapman, Colin A.
Article
Language:

English

Summary

With open-access publishing authors often pay an article processing charge and subsequently their article is freely available online. These charges are beyond the reach of most African academics. Thus, the trend towards open-access publishing will shift the business model from a pay-wall model, where access to literature is limited, to a pay-to-publish one, where African scholars cannot afford to publish. We explore the costs of publishing and the ability of African scholars to afford to publish via open access in top journals. Three-quarters of the 40 top ecology journals required payment for open-access publishing (average cost $3150). Paying such fees is a hardship for African scholars as grant funding is not available and it is not feasible to pay the fees themselves as salaries are low. We encourage funders and publishers to facilitate an equitable publishing model that allows African scholars to make their research available through open-access publishing.

Author(s)
Mekonnen, Addisu
Article
Language:

English

Article
Language:

English

Summary

Many of the world’s most biodiverse regions are found in the poorest and second most populous continent of Africa; a continent facing exceptional challenges. Africa is projected to quadruple its population by 2100 and experience increasingly severe climate change and environmental conflict—all of which will ravage biodiversity. Here we assess conservation threats facing Africa and consider how these threats will be affected by human population growth, economic expansion, and climate change. We then evaluate the current capacity and infrastructure available to conserve the continent’s biodiversity. We consider four key questions essential for the future of African conservation: (1) how to build societal support for conservation efforts within Africa; (2) how to build Africa’s education, research, and management capacity; (3) how to finance conservation efforts; and (4) is conservation through development the appropriate approach for Africa? While the challenges are great, ways forward are clear, and we present ideas on how progress can be made. Given Africa’s current modest capacity to address its biodiversity crisis, additional international funding is required, but estimates of the cost of conserving Africa’s biodiversity are within reach. The will to act must build on the sympathy for conservation that is evident in Africa, but this will require building the education capacity within the continent. Considering Africa’s rapidly growing population and the associated huge economic needs, options other than conservation through development need to be more effectively explored. Despite the gravity of the situation, we believe that concerted effort in the coming decades can successfully curb the loss of biodiversity in Africa.

Author(s)
Chapman, Colin A.
Report
Language:

English

Summary

The rural poor of tropical countries are being strongly impacted by climate change, as they live in direct contact with the land and depend on their immediate environment for food, water, medicines, and fuel. This close contact results in these communities being severely affected by wildlife that raid their crops, which often causes significant economic hardships. However, our research demonstrates that some wildlife also experience decreased food availability as a result of climate change. Thus, climate change may be increasing human-wildlife conflict. The objective of our project was to establish a team that could build a graduate research and training network between Uganda, Canada, and South Africa to address the critical issue of how climate change affects crop production and crop raiding by wildlife.

Author(s)
Omeja, Patrick
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