By Douglas Sheil and Emmanuel Akampurira

Children guard fields from animals next to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Such guarding leads many children to miss school. Those photographed consented to be photographed and were informed of how the image would be used. © Douglas Sheil

This Plain Language Summary is published in advance of the paper discussed. Please check back soon for a link to the full paper.

We examined why projects designed to reduce conflict between people and wildlife around protected areas in Uganda so often fail to gain local support and do not last.

Through discussions and interviews with people living near protected areas in south-western Uganda, we explored their experiences with projects meant to protect them from crop-raiding animals and dangerous wildlife. We also spoke with conservation practitioners and wildlife authorities. We learned there is a consistent mismatch between how people design projects and what communities need. Most projects assume that communities will willingly take on the responsibilities and costs—time, labour, money—once external support ends. Managers rarely assess whether communities are genuinely willing and prepared to do this. It damages trust when projects then fall short—through poor construction, technical failures, or unmet promise —and communities become reluctant to engage with future initiatives, whatever their merits. Failure, thus, tends to follow predictable patterns: inadequate consultation, unrealistic expectations, lack of local ownership, and historical grievances that lead to distrust and active resistance. Despite years of effort, decisionmakers still fail to recognise these pitfalls, leading to repeated mistakes.

Conservation depends on people who live alongside wildlife, yet these communities bear disproportionate costs whilst often having little say in how problems are addressed. We recommend assessing whether communities are genuinely willing and prepared before projects begin, ensuring meaningful participation in decision-making, and maintaining transparency throughout. This may mean postponing a project until sufficient trust has been built.

Success requires shifting from short-term project thinking to long-term relationships built on engagement, transparency, and respect for local concerns and institutions. These failures are predictable. With effort they should also be preventable.