An elephant emerges silently through the dense thickets of northwestern Zimbabwe during the dry season – a powerful symbol of coexistence and challenge in rural landscapes.
Photographer credit: Muhammad Faizan Usman.

By Muhammad Faizan Usman, Martin Nielsen, Sébastien Le Bel, Maxwell Phiri, and Patrice Grimaud.

Read the full paper here.

While elephants are vital for ecosystems, they also create challenges for people living nearby. Elephants may destroy crops, damage property, and cause emotional stress. In this paper, we investigated how living near elephants affects communities in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KaZa TFCA) in Zimbabwe. Our study focused on understanding how the location of these communities – near forests, protected areas, or water points – affects the frequency of these conflicts and how people’s tolerance toward elephants is shaped.

We surveyed over 600 households that had experienced elephant-related problems. Our results showed that people living closer to forests, protected areas, and water points faced more frequent problems with elephants. Forests had the strongest impact, as elephants rely on them for shelter and resources, increasing interactions with nearby households. These interactions led to tangible costs, such as economic losses and safety concerns, as well as intangible costs such as living in fear and emotional stress.

Interestingly, households further from these high-conflict areas were more tolerant of elephants. They valued elephants for their ecological importance and beauty, showing that intangible benefits like these play a major role in shaping attitudes. However, tangible benefits, such as tourism revenue or financial incentives, were lacking in these areas, which likely contribute to negative attitudes toward conservation efforts.

Our findings highlight the need for better strategies to reduce conflicts and increase tolerance. Solutions could include creating community-based conservation programs, improving early-warning systems to warn villagers before elephant intrusions occur, and developing alternative incomes like ecotourism. By addressing both the costs and the benefits of living with elephants, we can help people and wildlife coexist more effectively. This research provides practical insights for balancing community needs with conservation goals in KaZa TFCA and beyond.