Professor Amy Dickman at the 2023 Earthshot Prize

09/11/2023

WildCRU Director Professor Amy Dickman participated in the 2023 EarthShot Prize as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel and also attended Earthshot Plus where key issues in conservation were presented and discussed. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “Moonshot” challenge to land a man on the moon within a decade, the ... Read full story

Addressing land use conflicts between communities, their livestock and wildlife in Botswana

03/11/2023

Increasing human pressure on natural resources is an issue the world over, and aligning wildlife conservation with community wellbeing often poses significant challenges. Part of WildCRU’s long-term work in the Kavango Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) is to navigate these challenges in search of the best outcomes for people and wildlife. This week marks an ... Read full story

The role of flagship individuals in biodiversity conservation

16/10/2023

“Flagship individuals can be drivers for conservation support and action, but it is also clear from examples like Cecil the Lion, that they can be hijacked for purposes unrelated to biodiversity conservation. As such it is key that we better understand how we can harness these stories while minimizing the risk for the wildlife involved ... Read full story

Measuring the Effectiveness of Value-Framing and Message Valence on Audience Engagement

07/11/2023

Environmental problems are largely caused by human actions thus, changing public behaviour is an essential step for successful conservation. To motivate public engagement, conservationists may frame messages in different ways with differing emphasis. Two main approaches are to use ‘value-framing’ - where the extrinsic or intrinsic value of biodiversity is emphasised, and ‘message valence’ - ... Read full story

Spotted hyaena population density: new insight from Tanzania

25/10/2023

Spotted hyaenas are often thought to be resilient to human disturbance, but many of their populations are now in decline. Population density estimates are invaluable for conservation planning, yet very few have been produced to date. A new study led by WildCRU’s Charlotte Searle, using camera trap data from Tanzania’s Ruaha-Rungwa landscape, ... Read full story

How much do we really know about public perceptions of contentious issues in wildlife conservation?

05/10/2023

Earlier today, Yolanda Mutinhima and Lovemore Sibanda WildCRU's Morally Contested Conservation (MCC) research team asked this provocative question to several hundred participants at the 12th Annual Oppenheimer Research Conference in South Africa. In their talk, Yolanda (a graduate student at Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe) and Lovemore (a WildCRU postdoctoral researcher) presented ... Read full story