Sustainable solutions
for the coexistence
of wildlife and people
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Coexistence of humans and wild
animals
The coexistence of humans and wild animals in the same habitat is as old as humanity itself and has worked for many tens of thousands of years. It was only in modern times that the idea of deserted protected areas emerged, with the argument that sustainable coexistence of humans and wild animals was not possible. This often led, especially in countries in the global south, to forced resettlement or expulsion of the local population to make room for national parks and other protected areas. This led to numerous human rights violations, but also to the "islandization" of still intact small or medium-sized ecosystems within human-used areas and, as a result, to the genetic impoverishment of wild animal populations. New solutions for species protection and coexistence must be created. This is what we are dealing with.
We believe that there is another way and that people and wild animals can live together even with a growing population if the right conditions are created and the local population is involved in nature conservation measures or even develops them themselves. We see it as our task to advise and support such processes.
We work on developing solutions and transferable models for the sustainable coexistence of people, wildlife and ecosystems, support and advise on the development and implementation of community-based nature conservation projects by the local population and promote nature and species conservation projects and projects for education and humanitarian aid, especially by small local NGOs. We see improving the living conditions of people in our project regions as an important prerequisite for the implementation of successful nature conservation measures.
We start all new programs with a documentary film in order to present our project topics
to a broad public and make them accessible right from the start.
Two films about our current topics are currently being prepared.
Our Programs
Forests, Elephants and People
The Wildlife and People Coexistence Network grew out of our first foundation project, Forests, Elephants and People. Together with the Wild Cats Program, it now defines the regions in which we work:
1. Forest regions, especially primary forests, in both tropical and other climate zones, with wildlife and local, often indigenous, communities living there.
2. Elephant regions, both savannas and dry forests as well as rainforests with a focus on Africa.
3. Areas of indigenous peoples and local village communities. Globally, around 80% of the remaining biodiversity can be found on the land of indigenous communities. We promote nature conservation projects of indigenous peoples and local village communities and their networking with one another.
4. Southern Hessen as the seat of our foundation for questions of coexistence with the returning wild animals wolf, lynx, wildcat and beaver.
As we expanded our focus to include other animal species, especially in Germany (wolves and beavers), it was necessary to express this by name. This led to the founding of the Wildlife and People Coexistence Network.
Our work on elephants led to the creation of the Human Elephant Landscapes Program, the most important part of our work.
The focus of our work is usually on regions where several of points 1 to 4 come together, such as forests in elephant regions or extensive forest areas in southern Hessen.
Our two "field programs"
We are currently active in two regions of the world with active on-site work. In East Africa with our Human Elephant Landscapes Program, we are working on the coexistence of people with elephants and big cats and on the vision of large, connected "coexistence landscapes" for people and wild animals. In Germany, we are working on the return of lynx, wolves, wild cats and beavers in southern Hesse. In all programs, we are very much concerned with developing solutions and transferable models that can also be implemented in other regions. Two documentaries on these topics are currently being prepared.
Program I
The Human Elephant Landscapes Program
is our most important program and the core of our work. As a relatively small organization, we are increasingly concerned with developing solution models that can also be transferred to other regions. TheHuman Elephant Landscapes Program is our answer to Africa's elephant crisis. Unlike most other conservation organizations, we rely much more on the local population as an essential factor in conservation measures. This also means that helping the local population and improving living conditions in village communities are important aspects of the program. Combined with better education, environmental education and medical care, this initially creates the conditions for the emergence of local conservation projects that benefit both wild animals and people.
In many regions of Africa, there are already quite a few small local projects or village communities that have developed solutions for their own coexistence with elephants and other large mammals, while in other areas conflicts are escalating. The idea behind the Human Elephant Landscapes Program is to document solutions that work and to apply them in other regions, to combine them into a larger whole and to create "coexistence landscapes" that benefit people and wild animals and that can also serve as models for other regions. The Human Elephant Landscapes Program is a direct response to the displacement and forced relocation of indigenous communities that is still taking place in the name of nature conservation.
Program II
Funding programs and network
We are currently only active in field work in Kenya and Germany.
In other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and America, we are only active in an advisory, networking, documenting, informing and promoting
capacity within the framework of our two programs Wildlife and Forest Guardians Program
and the Wild Cats Program.
Project manager K.Berger: "On my many travels and also in the years that I lived in New Zealand, Cambodia and Kenya, I very often came into
contact with small local nature conservation projects. Often these were projects run by the indigenous population.
Sometimes they were in direct contact with other indigenous projects in other parts of the world. I came across networks between the Maori in New Zealand and Indian peoples on the Canadian west coast, or between these same Indian peoples and the Maasai in
Kenya. These networks of the "guardians of the earth" have always fascinated me. With our work, we want to promote such networks and link them with our own projects and funded
projects."
Our work on feral cats overlaps greatly with our other programs, as they occur in all the regions we work in and with.
Wildlife and Forests Guardians Program
Around 80% of the remaining biodiversity can be found on the land of indigenous peoples and local village communities, which clearly shows their importance in protecting habitats and species. Many of these communities are now developing their own conservation projects. While some are dedicated to preserving ecosystems, others are focused on protecting individual wild animal species, such as the Lion Guardians in Kenya. Although we work with and among indigenous communities primarily in Africa, we see the importance and great potential of indigenous conservation worldwide for preserving biodiversity and in developing new forms of conservation that benefit wild animals, landscapes and people. We therefore try to promote indigenous conservation in other parts of the world as far as we can. One focus is on promoting global networking and cooperation between indigenous communities, which has been developing increasingly over the years and which we have often encountered. Our Wildlife Guardians Program particularly expresses the idea of creating global networks, as suggested by the name of Wildlife and People Coexistence Network.
Wild Cats Program
The Wild Cats Program connects our active field work in Africa (elephants, big cats) and in Germany (wolves, lynx, wild cats, beavers) with other regions of the world where "wild cats" also occur. In these regions, we are involved in supporting, advising and networking as far as we can, often in conjunction with our Wildlife and Forests Guardians Program (see above). Or we support small local projects to protect "cats" living there, such as tigers or clouded leopards in Asia. The Wild Cats Program creates a connection between our active field programs in Germany and Africa, our commitment to indigenous nature conservation projects in other regions of the world and the support of small local organizations that work to protect endangered big cats on various continents.
About us
The Wildlife and People Coexistence Network is a project of the Wild Land - Wild Spirit Foundation. This is a non-profit trust based in Wiesbaden and works on the topics of human/wild animal coexistence, nature and species conservation, indigenous peoples, implementation of nature conservation with local communities, promotion of globally sustainable change processes. The focus of our work is on global forest issues and the sustainable coexistence of wild animals and people.
Where have we worked since the foundation was founded in 2013?
Some forest regions in Southeast Asia and East Africa Some forest regions and lynx areas in Central Europe Darmstadt/South Hesse/Odenwald region.
Where could we gain experience beforehand?
Foundation founder Klaus Berger was involved in the protection of boreal forests for many years and traveled and worked in Northern Europe, mostly beyond the Arctic Circle. He was involved in protection measures for the temperate rainforests on the North American west coast for over ten years. He lived on the South Island of New Zealand for a year and studied the ecology of the rainforest there and came into close contact with the Maori culture.
What do we do?
1. We support, advise and promote local village communities, indigenous peoples and citizens' initiatives in their conservation efforts and in the implementation of conservation projects in some regions of Africa as well as in Germany.
2. We advise on reducing wildlife conflicts.
3. We develop transferable models for the coexistence of humans and wildlife and for non-invasive wildlife conservation.
4. We investigate and document the situation of ecosystems, sustainable coexistence with wildlife and the successful implementation of conservation projects using so-called "indicator species" with a focus on big cats and elephants.
5. We create databases with innovative solutions for coexistence with wildlife and make them available.
6. We make films on our topics and do public relations work.
7. We do educational work on coexistence with wildlife and on the protection and sustainable use of forest ecosystems.
Advice and support for local nature conservation measures and
nature conservation projects of indigenous peoples
Coexistence with wild animals is as old as humanity itself and has functioned sustainably, if not always without conflict, for many tens of thousands of years. It was only in the last few centuries that a process of alienation between humans and wild animals began, particularly in Europe and spreading from there through global colonization worldwide, which is reflected in modern humans today. Even though quite a lot of people are now committed to nature and species conservation locally and globally, measures are still often promoted that exclude the local population, especially in countries in the global south, instead of integrating them into nature conservation measures. While there are still many people there who share a common habitat with wild animals, which is often dangerous and leads to many deaths of humans and animals every year, coexistence with (dangerous) wild animals is no longer an issue here in Central Europe. We have now moved too far away from coexistence with wild animals. If wild animals, such as wolves, return to their former habitat, this quickly leads to conflicts, triggers fears and leaves little room for acceptance and coexistence. While our work in the global south, particularly in some regions of Africa, promotes nature conservation projects by the local population, which almost always aim to enable people to live together with wild animals and not to create deserted protected areas, the aim of our work in Germany is to promote greater acceptance of wild animals through appropriate education and public relations work and thus to create a basis for coexistence again.
Bettering the life situation of local Communities
as a basement for future Conservation
Community based Conservation
... refers to the development of conservation measures and projects by local village communities and indigenous peoples. About 80% of the remaining biodiversity can be found on the land of indigenous peoples and local village communities, which is based on the sustainable way of life they have developed over centuries or even millennia. Nevertheless, indigenous communities are still being displaced or forcibly resettled for conservation reasons. Worldwide, the number of people displaced for conservation reasons is estimated at around 130 million. In Africa alone, the figure is said to be around 14 million. Many local communities and tribes are now becoming active and developing their own conservation projects, also to show that they are very capable of preserving their habitat and protecting the wild animals that live there. Their models are often based on the coexistence of people and wild animals and not, as is rooted in western conservation thinking, on separation. It is important to us to promote such community-based conservation projects and, if necessary, to advise on the details of implementation, to help with the search for sponsors and to take on some of the public relations work.
A first step in promoting the conservation work of local communities is to help improve the living conditions in the villages.
Solar bottle lamps, clean drinking water, energy efficient cooking/
Solar cooker and water filter in Cambodia
Promote the global networking of village communities and
local nature conservation projects
Despite the work of many large, internationally active conservation organizations, we are in the era of the greatest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, which shows that the work of these organizations alone cannot prevent this. At the same time, it has been found that more than 80% of the remaining biodiversity can be found on the land of indigenous peoples and local village communities, which proves the enormous importance of these communities for global species conservation. Nevertheless, indigenous communities are still being driven from their land or forcibly resettled in the name of nature conservation, sometimes in cooperation with nature conservation organizations. The number of these "conservation refugees" displaced worldwide is now estimated at around 130 million people. We see these local village communities as a key factor in future global nature and species conservation. It is often small, local projects that they have initiated or it is simply their way of life that leads to the sustainable preservation of their land and biodiversity. Often the projects are too small and the number of people in the communities is too small to achieve much on their own. That is why networking is so important. Many of these communities are already cooperating across continents and developing common positions and projects. Others have developed solutions to nature conservation issues that have not yet found their way to other regions but could be very helpful there. It is therefore particularly important to us in our work to help create networks between these communities and to provide advice and support.
There are many indigenous conservation projects,
but from a global perspective, they are not known
to so many people.
An example:
Database coexistence with wildlife
Cooperation with the Rainforest Center Darmstadt
- Education events about coexistence of wildlife and people
The Wildlife and People Coexistence Network and the Rainforest Center Darmstadt are the two projects of the Wild Land - Wild Spirit Foundation.
Global commitment
We work actively and supportively only in some regions of Europe and Africa. However, many areas of our work can also be transferred to other regions of the world, such as our Wild Cats Program, the Wildlife Guardians Program and the database we have developed with innovative solutions for coexistence. We hope that this will also help us to contribute to the coexistence of humans and wild animals in other parts of the world and thus also to the protection of particularly endangered species.
