Community Engagement

In the face of growing threats to this natural capital, compounded by climate change, the custodians of critical landscapes have been overlooked in conservation decisions for too long despite having invaluable traditional knowledge and experience. To sustainably manage critical landscapes, the need to involve local communities cannot be overemphasised.

The sustained success of our efforts to save and conserve animals and their habitats requires the engagement and support of Indigenous peoples and local communities living alongside wildlife across the landscapes where IFAW works. Our Community Engagement program works closely with partners to manage and implement socio-economic development initiatives that will achieve impactful and meaningful sustained change.

Our Community Engagement program aims to:

• Provide a connection to ethical, equitable, and ecologically grounded landscape conservation and rescue work.
• Empower communities to participate in, benefit from, and own animal welfare and conservation initiatives that affect them.
• Strengthen sustainable livelihood strategies that benefit people, animals, and habitats in priority landscapes.
• Impact communities’ perceptions by creating legitimacy, strengthening support for conservation, and delivering on anticipated benefits.
• Ensure communities have sustainable solutions for reducing human-wildlife conflict and promote coexistence.
• Ensure communities at high risk of disasters have increased resilience and reduced reliance on external support.
• Support building a constituency for conservation to help reduce community support for poaching/trafficking for illegal wildlife trade. 

Unsustainable land use practice and climate change have directly contributed to ever-increasing interactions and conflicts between animals and people. This often results in loss of crops, livestock, and pets; destruction of property; injury and death of wild animals; and sadly, in some cases, the loss of human life.

By helping reduce the cost of living alongside wildlife, the communities we work with will not only be safer but also more likely to support and participate in conservation initiatives and reject retaliatory killing or persecution of wild animals. In Yunnan, China, for instance, a village-level early warning system, safety training for residents, and development of new income via beekeeping are helping people to live peacefully alongside wildlife.