Journal of Ecology and Conservation

ABSTRACT

Survey on attitudes are essential tools for social impact assessment and are widely used in the conservation sector. This survey was carried out in Waza National Park, North Region of Cameroon. The aim of this study was to determine the attitude of the local community towards the conservation of lions and specifically, to assess the attitude of the local people towards lions and conservation to determine their view towards human-lion conflicts and to evaluate Government’s compensation on attitude of the local people towards lion and conservation. Questionnaires were used to collect information in this study. A total of 166 questionnaires were distributed to people who own livestock according to their availability in 10 villages. The questions were both open and closed ended. The results showed that there were more (94%) males than females (6%) with 63% of them without educational background. Majority (31%) of them had an age range between 31 to 40 years. The community perception towards lion shows that 80% of the population was for the opinion that lions should be maintained in the community. A large proportion (98%) of the respondents agreed that there is conflict with lions in the area and its causing a serious problem. Majority (66%) of the respondents strongly agree that timely compensation makes conflict with lion more tolerable. From the results, Government intervention is important to organize training programs to train livestock owners on how to minimize livestock losses.

Article History

Received 15 September 2023; Revised 12 October 2023; Accepted 23 October 2023

KEYWORDS

1. Lion
2. Human-wildlife conflict
3. Threats
4. Population-decline