Paper short abstract:

This study explores the case of community attitudes to conservation and the Half-Earth vision in Nigeria. In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policy-makers work together with indigenous people and local populations without compromising the interests of wildlife.

Paper long abstract:

This study explores the case of community attitudes to conservation and the Half-Earth vision in Nigeria. In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policy-makers work together with indigenous people and local populations without compromising the interests of wildlife and ecosystems. Such efforts are aimed at preventing the ecological collapse and restoring the balance between local communities living in proximity to protected areas and biodiversity. The Half-Earth vision requires decolonizing nonhuman species through marshaling ecocentric philosophy, animal sentience science, and, crucially, local communities’ support. While the studies of community attitudes to the wildlife are accumulating, there is a shortage of data on attitudes to the Half-Earth vision in developing countries. This study aims to address this gap by discussing the pilot study of the attitudes to conservation and the Half-Earth vision of communities living around Yankari Game Reserve, Bauchi State in Nigeria. This study finds that community representatives stand open to dialogue with local conservationists. It appears, however, that surveyed villagers have greater understanding of particular species than of general trends in biodiversity decline, and tend to rely on the authority of the elders or officials for guidance. Other factors affecting biodiversity, such as growing human populations, climate change, and bushmeat hunting are considered as constraints to the Half-Earth vision. Educational programs targeted at empowerment of individual community members to speak against poaching, but also education targeted at development of basic literacy, numeracy and professional skills to counter poverty, as well as education in family planning is recommended.