Exploring attitudes to biodiversity conservation and Half-Earth vision in Nigeria: A preliminary study of community attitudes to conservation in Yankari Game Reserve

In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policymakers work together with local communities without compromising the interests of wildlife and ecosystems. The vision requires decolonizing nonhuman species through marshaling ecocentric philosophy, animal sentience science, and, crucially, local communities' support. While the studies of community attitudes to wildlife are accumulating, in the context of human-wildlife conflicts, there is a shortage of data on attitudes to the Half-Earth vision in countries with growing human populations and rapidly declining biodiversity, such as Nigeria. This paper aims to address this gap by exploring community attitudes to the Half-Earth vision through a pilot study of Yalwan Bongo and Kafi, the local com-munities living around Yankari Game Reserve, Bauchi State in Nigeria. This paper is a review of the main issues surrounding Half-Earth, with a preliminary case study that addresses some of these issues. This case study found that community representatives stand open to dialogue with local conservationists based on the mutual benefit of wildlife protection. The surveyed villagers had a greater understanding of particular species than of contributing factors in biodiversity declines, such as growing human populations, climate change, and bushmeat hunting. Educational programs that we recommend are targeted at the empowerment of individual community members to speak against poaching, but also at the development of basic literacy, numeracy, and professional skills to counter poverty and promote family planning.

Automated summary

In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policymakers collaborate with local communities to protect wildlife and ecosystems. However, there is a lack of data on attitudes towards the Half-Earth vision in countries such as Nigeria, where human populations are growing and biodiversity is declining. This paper addresses this gap by exploring community attitudes through a pilot study in Nigeria, which found that community representatives are open to dialogue with conservationists and that educational programs should focus on empowering community members to combat poaching and alleviate poverty through basic education and skills development.