We all share the same goal: To build a future in which humans and wildlife coexist.
Through the Coexisitence.life platform we share both our, and your, knowledge to achieve this goal. Human-wildlife conflict is an emerging problem on a global level. It is a, perhaps inevitable, consequence of human population growth, the expansion of urban centers into wildlife habitats, and even the success of conservation projects. As we move in this direction, coexistence will increasingly become a keyword, crucial to both human societies and natural environments, as well as wildlife on the periphery of urbanized areas, rural communities and around protected and connectivity areas. Coexistence will soon become a necessary condition for wildlife conservation, so it is important to identify the best practices that will lead to the best outcome. There are different conflict mitigation techniques that vary according to geographical, social and species contexts.
Communication is certainly one of the most important techniques for identifying conflict and understanding it, for getting people involved in it, managing it, and making it part of everyday life. It is through communication that we can change behaviors to promote coexistence and ensure the safety and social wellbeing of all.
In recent years, PAMS has undertaken a series of actions aimed at resolving or mitigating human-wildlife conflict. We’ve accumulated considerable experience in recognizing the importance of avoiding direct conflict, in addition to identifying techniques aimed at creating behavior changes within communities that create the foundations for long term coexistence between humans and wildlife. NGOs and authorities working in conflict mitigation need to collaborate effectively, and that means sharing their vast knowledge and experiences to drive the conversation on coexistence.
The project
What
In 2019, PAMS launched a new project dedicated to the use of communication in promoting human-wildlife coexistence.
Coexistence.life is a collaborative project which aims to promote the experiences of those who work in the field of human-wildlife interaction, to share their knowledge enabling more effective communication actions, and to help local communities and wildlife coexist.
Why
Although communication is an important tool in promoting coexistence, campaigns often lack the staff and resources to achieve large scale impacts.
Coexistence.life aims to share, along with that of others, the PAMS Foundation’s experience, and bring it together into one centralized knowledge base, holding an array of communication actions developed for different geographical and social contexts. In doing so, it will provide human-wildlife experts and stakeholders with a good basis of examples and experiences to help develop more effective communication strategies and actions. At the same time, it will promote an exchange of cultural knowledge that will be useful beyond local borders.
Output
To create reference
To set up an archive of experiences and examples of communication actions, enabling the development of practical tools for all those working in the field of human-wildlife interaction. Different communication materials, scientific papers and grey literature will be collected and organized in an open access archive aimed at facilitating the development of new, more efficient, communication actions, in order to promote better coexistence.
To share knowledge
The outputs of the project are designed to provide a basis for sharing knowledge, but also a platform to promote interaction and discussion between citizens and experts.
To create awareness
This project will develop its own communication strategy aimed at sensitizing communities, NGOs, and governmental institutions on the issue of human-wildlife coexistence, in order to raise awareness and promote more conscious choices, both by local communities and governments.
Outcome
Website
The creation of an open database of scientific works and grey literature will be useful to all those involved in conflict mitigation, and to communicators in particular. The activities will be classified according to social and geographical context, species subject to conflict, and type of technique (technology, participatory projects, videos, guidelines, etc.). The open database aims to become a practical tool for developing new, more efficient, communication activities. The archive will be hosted on a website dedicated to ‘coexistence’ – a space to share stories about human-wildlife interaction.
Guidelines
How do you build an effective message? What should the focus be? Which audience should you target? And what’s the best medium to deliver your message? We’ll create a set of best practice guidelines, based on PAMS Foundation’s extensive experience in the field of communication and community relations, as well as examples from various experts around the world. These guidelines will enable other organizations to structure effective messaging aimed at overcoming barriers in promoting human wildlife coexistence.