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Environmental Management (2011) 48:263275 DOI 10.1007/s00267-011-9718-0
PUBLISHERS ERRATUM
Erratum to: Elephants Also Like Coffee: Trends and Driversof HumanElephant Conicts in Coffee Agroforestry Landscapes of Kodagu, Western Ghats, India
P. Bal C. D. Nath K. M. Nanaya
C. G. Kushalappa C. Garcia
Published online: 13 July 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Kodagu district produces 2% of the worlds coffee, in complex, multistoried agroforestry systems. The forests of the district harbour a large population of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). The combined effects of high elephant density and major landscape changes due to the expansion of coffee cultivation are the cause of humanelephant conicts (HEC). Mitigation strategies, including electric fences and compensation schemes implemented by the Forest Department have met with limited success. Building on previous studies in the area, we assessed current spatial and temporal trends of conict, analysed local stakeholders perceptions and identied factors driving elephants into the estates. Our study, initiated in May 2007, shows that the intensity of HEC has increased over the last 10 years,
exhibiting new seasonal patterns. Conict maps and the lack of correlation between physical features of the coffee plantations and elephant visits suggest elephants move along corridors between the eastern and western forests of the district, opportunistically foraging when crossing the plantations. Dung analyses indicate elephants have selectively included ripe coffee berries in their diet. This is, to our knowledge, the rst report of wild elephants feeding on coffee berries. If this new behaviour spreads through the population, it will compound an already severe conict situation. The behavioural plasticity, the multiplicity of stakeholders involved, the difculty in dening the problem and the limits of technical solutions already proposed suggest that HEC in Kodagu has the ingredients of a wicked problem whose resolution will require more shared understanding and problem solving work amongst the stakeholders.
Keywords Asian elephant Crop raiding Coffee
estates Wicked problem Dung analysis
Introduction
Human demographic pressure, expansion of cash crops in previously forested areas and the subsequent overlap of
The online version of the original article can be found under doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9636-1
Web End =10.1007/s00267-011-9636-1 .
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