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JAGUAR AND PUMA IN BRAZILIAN SEMI-ARID
REGION – SCAPEGOATS FOR WEAK GOVERNANCE?
Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins*
Institute for the Conservation of Neotropical Carnivores, Atibaia, SP, Brazil; Center for
Ecology & Environmental Monitoring, Federal University of São Francisco Valley,
Petrolina, PE, Brazil. Email: csgmartins@gmail.com | ORCID: 0000-0003-3528-0877
Francine Schulz
Institute for the Conservation of Neotropical Carnivores, Atibaia, SP, Brazil
Email: francine.schulz@gmail.com | ORCID: 0000-0001-6652-7305
Carolina Franco Esteves
Institute for the Conservation of Neotropical Carnivores, Atibaia, SP, Brazil
Email: carolfesteves@gmail.com | ORCID: 0000-0003-4564-4101
Silvio Marchini
University of São Paulo, Forestry Science Department, Wildlife Ecology,
Management and Conservation Laboratory, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil; Wildlife
Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Email: silvio.marchini@usp.br | ORCID: 0000-0002-8184-1631
*Corresponding Author
Received: 12 August 2021 | Accepted: 17 August 2021 | Published: 31 August 2021
ABSTRACT
Exclusively Brazilian, the Caatinga is a seasonally dry tropical forest where the
endangered jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) co-occur with the
lowest regional Human Development Indexes. New land uses challenge traditional
livelihoods and add threats to species historically poached in retaliation for livestock
depredation. Chronicle biodiversity conflicts became acute after a reported increase
in depredation allegedly because of those changes and conflicts among stakeholders.
Using the framework of human dimensions of wildlife management, pioneer
research on the vulnerabilities of rural communities to jaguar-and-puma conflicts
was led in ‘Boqueirão da Onça’, within and surrounding that polygon of protected
areas. The aim was to identify, describe, understand, and predict human behaviour,
and link the outcomes with the IUCN natural resources governance concept.
Negative attitudes arose from 72% and 35.2% participants towards the proximity of
jaguar and proximity of puma, respectively. When asked about institutions working
for wildlife protection, and institutions working for people facing problems caused
by carnivores, 64.9% and 88.8%, respectively, were unaware of them. Regarding
beliefs about co-occurrence with jaguars or pumas, 80.9% and 82.9%, respectively,
mentioned more problems than benefits, with 74.5% believing in the increase of both
species’ populations due to the creation of protected areas. This scenario may ease
jaguar and puma to become scapegoats for human-wildlife and broader social
conflicts, unless values such as justice and transparency are pursued.
Keywords: Biodiversity conflicts; Human dimensions; Protected areas; Governance
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY | 01(02) AUGUST 2021
Published by The Grassroots Institute, in partnership with Yaroslav Mudriy National
Law University of Ukraine, and in collaboration with Northern Institute of Minority &
Environmental Law, University of Lapland. Website: http://grassrootsjournals.org/jelp
M – 00237 | Research Article
How to cite this paper: Cláudia S G Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina F Esteves and
Silvio Marchini, ‘Jaguar and Puma in Brazilian Semi-Arid Region – scapegoats for weak
governance?’ (2021) 01(02) Journal of Environmental Law & Policy 80-102.
<https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp01.02.04>
Copyright © 2021 by author(s). This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ISSN 2564-016X | August 2021
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Jaguar and Puma in Brazilian Semi-Arid Region – scapegoats for weak governance?
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
1. INTRODUCTION
Many communities that become neighbours or inhabitants of
protected areas consciously or unconsciously live the paradox between the
benefit of co-occurrence with wildlife in highly relevant ecological regions,
natural resources managed and surveyed to persist in the long term with
quality, and the burden of all that may jeopardize their livelihood, traditional
habits, behaviours and practices, restrain free-ranging of their livestock and
compromise the utility of some elements in the name of existence value and
natural heritage from non-dwellers perspective. That paradox often triggers
human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) and conflicts among stakeholders related to
species, wildlife management and/or new uses of the territory and land.
Whether aware or not, these traditional communities deal with governance
issues, with more or less preparedness of management agencies, decision
makers, leaderships, corporations and facilitators. A “bad” governance
undermines people, biodiversity and its interactions. A “good” governance
is not a package but an infinite process that must take into account the norms,
values, principles and approaches that will be applied in a dialogical
decision-making, fairly including diverse right holders and stakeholders
together.
1
“Good” or “bad” may change with time, with the background
where it takes place and with the individual or social group involved and its
interactions and established relations with resources and nature. Because it
is rooted in human dimensions linked to ethics and morals, anthropology
and culture, beliefs and norms, power and accountability, governance is
complex, sensitive and time-demanding beyond a project life cycle. Thus, not
all conservation projects, programs or policies approach the subject as a goal
to pursue or as a keystone in its foundation.
Neighbouring or residing within a protected area that is also home to
large, roaming animals, demanding extensive areas to thrive and carrying
the label of charismatic, adds complexity to an already challenging process.
Charisma arises not from the eventual damage or its conservation status but
from the controversial opinions and feelings they provoke.
2
Therefore,
conservation of species, habitats and human quality of life will not be
effective or endure unless human dimensions of biodiversity conflicts are not
assessed.
Carnivores like jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) in the
neotropics belong to that category of charismatic species. These species are
essential to maintain ecological equilibrium as they guarantee the diversity
and resilience of ecosystems where they inhabit. As predators, they control
1
Grazia Borrini and others, ‘Governance of Protected Areas: From Understanding to Action.’
[2013] Best practice protected area guidelines series <https://www.iucn.org/content/governance-
protected-areas-understanding-action-0> accessed 28 July 2021.
2
Silvio Marchini, ‘Who’s in Conflict with Whom? Human Dimensions of the Conflicts Involving
Wildlife’, Applied Ecology and Human Dimensions in Biological Conservation (Springer Berlin
Heidelberg 2014) <http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-54751-5_13> accessed 28 July
2021.
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
herbivore populations through a top-down effect on trophic cascades
3
and
because they usually leave part of their hunted preys, they supply food to
maintain the diversity of scavenger and decomposer communities.
4
Small
and mainly large carnivores are hunted and killed worldwide, especially in
retaliation to conflicts with rural communities.
5
Moreover, large animals
such as big cats have always been subject to human fascination and fear,
generating an enormous and strong record of conflicts.
6
The dynamics of
HWC is challenging and solving conflicts between different social groups
can be even more complicated than solving problems between humans and
predators.
7
Studies show that the contact with rural populations has resulted
in purposeful elimination of large felids that are killed due to depredation of
herds or as a trophy hunt.
8
This problem is one of the most urgent felids
conservation issues and in order to maintain big cats worldwide, the human
dimensions and interactions with these animals need to be better
understood.
9
The north-eastern region of Brazil, comprehending the Caatinga
domains where this research took place, has the lowest number of studies on
HWC with big cats. In a review by Lozano and others
10
about publications
concerning human-carnivore relationships between 2000 and 2016, the
3
William J Ripple and Robert L Beschta, ‘Linking a Cougar Decline, Trophic Cascade, and
Catastrophic Regime Shift in Zion National Park’ (2006) 133 Biological Conservation 397
<https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/s0006320706002989> accessed 28 July 2021.
4
L Mark Elbroch and Heiko U Wittmer, ‘Table Scraps: Inter-Trophic Food Provisioning by
Pumas’ (2012) 8 Biology letters 776 <https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0423> accessed 28 July
2021.
5
Philip J Nyhus, ‘Human–Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence’ (2016) 41 Annual Review of
Environment and Resources 143 <https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-environ-
110615-085634> accessed 28 July; K Ullas Karanth and Ravi Chellam, ‘Carnivore Conservation at
the Crossroads’ (2009) 43 Oryx 1 <https://doi.org/10.1017/s003060530843106x> accessed 28 July.
6
Thora M Herrmann and others, ‘Values, Animal Symbolism, and Human-Animal Relationships
Associated to Two Threatened Felids in Mapuche and Chilean Local Narratives’ (2013) 9 Journal
of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 41
<http://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-4269-9-41> accessed 28 July
2021.
7
Alexandra Zimmermann and others, ‘Contemporary Views of Human-Carnivore Conflicts on
Wild Rangelands’ in Johan T du Toit, Richard Kock and James C Deutsch (eds), Wild
Rangelands (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2010)
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444317091.ch6> accessed 28 July 2021.
8
Kathleen Krafte Holland, Lincoln R Larson and Robert B Powell, ‘Characterizing Conflict
between Humans and Big Cats Panthera Spp: A Systematic Review of Research Trends and
Management Opportunities’ (2018) 13 PloS one e0203877
<https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203877> accessed 28 July 2021; Marcelo Mazzolli,
Mauricio E Graipel and Nigel Dunstone, ‘Mountain Lion Depredation in Southern Brazil’ (2002)
105 Biological Conservation 43
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320701001781> accessed 28 July 2021;
Francesca Belem Lopes Palmeira and Walter Barrella, ‘Conflitos Causados Pela Predação de
Rebanhos Domésticos Por Grandes Felinos Em Comunidades Quilombolas Na Mata Atlântica’
(2007) 7 Biota Neotropica 119
<https://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v7n1/pt/abstract?article+bn03707012007> accessed 28 July
2021.
9
Herrmann and others (n 6); Krafte Holland, Larson and Powell (n 8); Zimmermann and others (n 7).
10
Jorge Lozano and others, ‘Human-Carnivore Relations: A Systematic Review’ (2019) 237
Biological Conservation 480 <https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006320718318330>
accessed 4 August 2021.
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
Caatinga as a domain or as a semi-arid region was not even mentioned.
Despite the high ecological relevance of Caatinga, the newest frontier to
science in Brazil, and the regional conservation status of jaguar (critically
endangered) and puma (endangered),
11
in the last decade the Caatinga has
seen changes being implemented very fast in pristine areas. These
landscapes with emerging socioeconomic interests are also regions where
apex predators have their distribution range, and concomitantly used by
traditional pastoralist groups growing small number of livestock (mainly
goats and sheep) grazing in the wild, especially in the dry season, and
displaying a very close to ‘hunt-and-gather’ behaviour combined with a
small-scale farming, in the short rainy season. The population is formed by
families in a situation of high socioeconomic vulnerability, that depend on
natural resources for their livelihoods.
After sharp decrease in jaguar populations until 1970’s for fur markets,
nowadays its populations are threatened for persecution and poaching of its
individuals as retaliation for depredation of livestock, with or without
proved guilt, and even though depredation events are more frequent having
puma as perpetrator.
12
Domestic animals such as dogs and pigs are also
commonly seen attacking lambs and small livestock (Campos, 2019, pers.
comm.).
New land uses through the establishment of wind and solar farms,
mining (legal and illegal) and commercial crops have encroached and
fragmented jaguar and puma habitats, which demand extensive areas to
obtain resources necessary for their survival.
13
In addition, infrastructure
associated with these developments, such as road networks where none
existed before, have paved the way for outsiders to increase hunting
pressure on the wild prey of these big cats.
14
In this paper we addressed the issue that big cats become, in fact,
scapegoats for problems that go beyond HWC, such as lack of “good”
governance, as per the judgment of as many as possible stakeholders within
the Brazilian Dry Forest. We did it by analysing how the relationships
11
Fernanda Cavalcanti de Azevedo and others, ‘Avaliação Do Risco de Extinção Da Onça-Parda
Puma Concolor (Linnaeus, 1771) No Brasil’ [2013] Biodiversidade Brasileira 107
<https://www.icmbio.gov.br/portal/images/stories/biodiversidade/fauna-brasileira/avaliacao-do-
risco/carnivoros/onça-parda_Puma_concolor.pdf> accessed 4 August 2021; A Desbiez, RC Paula
and S Cavalcanti, ‘Plano de Ação Nacional Para a Conservação Da Onça-Pintada’ [2013]
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, ICMBio 1
<https://www.icmbio.gov.br/portal/images/stories/docs-pan/pan-onca-pintada/1-ciclo/pan-onca-
pintada-livro.pdf> accessed 4 August 2021; Carlos Roberto Fonseca and others, Caatinga (José
Maria Cardoso da Silva, Inara R Leal and Marcelo Tabarelli eds, Springer International
Publishing 2017) <https://books.google.com.br/books?hl=pt-
BR&lr=&id=029GDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=Silva,+J.M.C.,+Leal,+I.R.+and+Tabarell
i,+M.+(ed.),+Caatinga.+The+largest+tropical+dry+forest+region+in+South+America,+Cham:+S
pringer+International+Publishing,+pp.+429-443.&ots> accessed 4 August 2021.
12
Desbiez, Paula and Cavalcanti (n 11).
13
L David Mech, ‘A New Era for Carnivore Conservation’ (1996) 24 Wildlife Society Bulletin
(1973-2006) 397 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3783319> accessed 4 August 2021.
14
Douglas de Matos Dias and others, ‘Human Activities Influence the Occupancy Probability of
Mammalian Carnivores in the Brazilian Caatinga’ (2019) 51 Biotropica 253
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/btp.12628> accessed 4 August 2021.
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
between people, and relationships between people and institutions, impact
on the conservation of jaguars and pumas in the Caatinga. We identified,
described and tried to understand human dimensions of the individual but
also attempted to investigate association between aspects that belong to an
individual and are affected by aspects of the individual's interpersonal and
institutional environment, not necessarily under his/her control. In this
context, some research questions arose: is it the perception of economic and
social vulnerability alone that leads a person to hunt for food or to chase and
kill a jaguar (or puma) because they are convinced that it is a risk to personal
safety or their way of life? Or the trigger is their perceived vulnerability to
conflict due to experiences with or exposure to the species, or their lack of
future prospects, or their lack of trust in institutions, as a consequence of
their perception of historical negligence and poor transparency from public
administration and other institutions? Or again, when they perceive those
institutions that should safeguard people's interests acting against them, by
excluding them from governance since its very beginning, is accountability
projected towards big cats? And because they cannot control any of these
external factors that leave them vulnerable, how does an experience of
livestock loss (or simply delay in goat or sheep returning home) translate
into threat to jaguar and puma? Our aim is that this pioneer approach may
provide valuable insights to support the young protected areas managed by
the central government.
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 Study area
The study took place in a region called ‘Boqueirão da Onça’, a polygon
of protected areas established by the Decrees 9336 (“Boqueirão da Onça”
National Park, with 347,557 hectares) and 9337 (‘Boqueirão da Onça’
Environmental Protected Area, with 505,692 hectares, including 11,651
hectares of “Toca da Boa Vista” Wildlife Zone), both published on 5th April
2018.
“Boqueirão da Onça” is within the range of the Caatinga biome, a
Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest and Woodlands (SDTFW),
15
the second most
vulnerable Brazilian biome to climate change,
16
where populations of the
largest wildcats of Americas, jaguar and puma, co-occur with the lowest
human development indexes (HDI) of North-eastern Brazil. The climate is
semi-arid, characterized by high mean temperatures (30ºC) and low mean
annual precipitation (693 mm), and presents two well-defined seasons, rainy
15
Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz and others, Caatinga (José Maria Cardoso da Silva, Inara R Leal
and Marcelo Tabarelli eds, Springer International Publishing 2017)
<http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-68339-3> accessed 4 August 2021.
16
Alistair WR Seddon and others, ‘Sensitivity of Global Terrestrial Ecosystems to Climate
Variability’ (2016) 531 Nature 229 <https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16986> accessed 4 August
2021.
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
and dry, usually with long periods of drought.
17
Caatinga comes from the
indigenous word “ka’a-tinga” which means “white bush”, the typical feature
of vegetation cover during the dry season.
Figure 1: Location of the study area formed by protected areas: Boqueirão
da Onça National Park (NP), Boqueirão da Onça Environmental Protection
Area (EPA) and Toca da Boa Vista Wildlife Zone (WZ), north-eastern Brazil
The region has a heterogeneous landscape, with the presence of saws,
plateaus, lajedos (rocky slab), veredas, as well as dry or wet boqueirões (deep
forested valleys). It is also rich in grottoes and small temporary rivers, which
accumulate water even during the driest periods of the year. These are key
locations for all the biota and human populations in the region, since they
ensure the water supply, with their springs, and forest cover that prevents
the loss of water from the soil through evaporation.
18
The presence of government authorities as wildlife management
agencies is new, irregular and mainly for control of hunting and fire.
Channels and means available for communication between rural inhabitants
and authorities either are absent or suffer from noise, consequence of a
history of oppression and negligence, that caused a rupture among residents
of rural and natural areas and urban residents, the first perceiving an absence
of fundamental rights and a vulnerability to conflict with wildlife, to be
managed by themselves. The arrival of corporations to exploit natural
resources met human populations’ expectations that have never been
achieved through public administration. Internet connection recently
arrived, triggered by the operational demands of wind and solar plants, even
with the absence of water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, health care
17
Guilherme de Oliveira and others, ‘Conserving the Brazilian Semiarid (Caatinga) Biome under
Climate Change’ (2012) 21 Biodiversity and Conservation 2913
<http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10531-012-0346-7> acessed 4 August 2021.
18
Cláudia Bueno de Campos and others, ‘Medium and Large Sized Mammals of the Boqueirão Da
Onça, North of Bahia State, Brazil’ (2019) 59 Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia e20195912
<https://www.revistas.usp.br/paz/article/view/150168> acessed 4 August 2021.
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
provision, public transportation or schools for all levels, in the majority of
rural communities.
2.2 Stakeholders
Within a framework of conflicts related to environmental issues, the
stakeholder is the one (individual or group) with legitimacy, political
influence, enough power to interfere and hinder a decision to be
implemented, and moral claims.
19
In this research, stakeholders correspond
to the adults residing within and surrounding protected areas in “Boqueirão
da Onça”, livestock owners or not, farmers or not, men and women, being
the single criteria the co-occurrence with jaguar and puma, and the volunteer
cooperation with the research.
2.3 Data collection
In this explanatory, deductive and observational research,
20
a semi-
structured questionnaire was submitted to the Ethics Committee in Research
involving Human Beings (CEP), and once approved
21
, applied face-to-face
to 168 people from 27 sites (farms and communities) between October 2018
and April 2019. The protocol had 108 questions, arranged in four sections: 1.
exposure to the conflict (comprising variables such as exposure to the
species, experience with the species, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and
habits), 2. sensitivity to the conflict (comprising variables such as perceived
control behaviour, attitudes, relation with wildlife management agencies,
socioeconomic vulnerability, knowledge, perceptions and social norms), 3.
conflict adaptation capacity (comprising variables such as knowledge,
attitudes, beliefs, husbandry practices, and socioeconomic vulnerability),
and, 4. personal questions (comprising variables such as land tenure, and
income source).
2.4 Sampling strategy
This is a cross-sectional, probabilistic study with sampling having used
clusters. Three data collection campaigns were established; thus, the polygon
was divided into three sections. Each section corresponds to one cluster.
22
The total number of sites (including farms, communities) identified within
the polygon were 93, and for convenience, one third of sites were to be
visited to apply the questionnaire. The proportion of sites to data collection
19
Lawrence Susskind and Jeffrey Cruikshank, Breaking the Impasse: Consensual Approaches to
Resolving Public Disputes. (Basic Books 1987) <https://scienceimpact.mit.edu/breaking-impasse-
consensual-approaches-resolving-public-disputes> accessed 4 August 2021.
20
Helen Newing, Conducting Research in Conservation: Social Science Methods and Practice
(Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group 2011).
21
CAAE n. 68314417.1.0000.5395, 28th June 2017 (CEP); SISBIO n. 67264-1 (Art. 28, IN
03/2014).
22
Floyd J Fowler Jr., Survey Research Methods, 2nd Ed. (Sage Publications, Inc 1993)
<https://books.google.com.br/books?hl=pt-
BR&lr=&id=WM11AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Fowler,+F.J.+(1993).+Survey+research
+methods.+Newbury+Park,+CA:+SAGE+Publications+Inc.&ots=6PtHChcQbU&sig=zcMJQ_tH
970UBM8ylBiJiUvrcqI#v=onepage&q&f=false> accessed 4 August 2021.
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
followed the proportion of territory of each municipality belonging to
“Boqueirão da Onça” (five municipalities in total). Random sites were
chosen within each municipality (16 in Sento Sé, seven in Campo Formoso,
four in Umburanas, three in Sobradinho and one in Juazeiro). In farms and
small communities one adult per house was interviewed; in medium to large
communities, one adult in alternate houses in every street was interviewed.
Eventually, due to threats to field researchers, following a series of
unexpected events such as the intensification of activities in one illegal
mining site and enforcement related to illegal hunting mainly in one cluster,
not 31 but 27 sites were surveyed. Expected sample size (n=381) follows
Dillman
23
and Salant and Dillman
24
guidelines and relates to the whole
population residing in the study area.
2.5 Data analysis
Data was analysed with a statistical trust level of 95%. Some
descriptive statistical analysis was done to explore the data and to create
graphics (average, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency). Other
statistical tests were used to assess categorical variables: Qui-Square (χ2),
Fisher exact test, Wilcoxon, Linear Regression and Logistic Regression.
3. RESULTS
Of the 168 people interviewed, 134 agreed to respond to the complete
protocol. To assess people’s perception of vulnerability to conflict due to
experience with or exposure to the species, questions on attitudes were
applied. On the question about attitude towards proximity of jaguar or
puma, 72% declared to be against the proximity of jaguar and 35.2% against
the proximity of puma, within a context where the frequency of contact
(sightseeing or report from other people) with puma is significantly higher
than the frequency of contact (sightseeing or report from other people) with
jaguar (Wilcoxon test, p-value=0.0077).
People articulated a low perception of risk to their personal safety (20%
and 15.3% of respondents, for jaguar and puma, respectively), and a higher
perception of risk to their livelihoods (58.2 and 61.5% of respondents, for
jaguar and puma, respectively). Table 1 shows that there was no relation
between individual aspects that could enhance people’s socioeconomic
vulnerability and influence attitudes towards the species, protected areas or
wildlife management, such as schooling level, knowledge on ecology and
behaviour of jaguar and puma or habits related to traditional husbandry
practices.
23
D Dillman, Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (2nd Ed.): 2007 Update with
New Internet, Visual, and Mixed-Mode Guide, vol 1 (2nd edn, John Wiley and Sons 2007).
24
Priscilla Salant and Don, A Dillman, How to Conduct Your Own Survey (1994)
<https://www.wiley.com/en-cg/How+to+Conduct+Your+Own+Survey-p-9780471012733>
accessed 4 August 2021.
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Table 1: Factors related to attitudes towards jaguars and pumas, protected
areas, and wildlife management
Aspects influencing human
dimensions
Attitudes
p-value
Jaguar
Puma
Schooling level
Towards the increase on
hunting control
0.313
Towards the increase on
tourism due to jaguar and puma
appeal
0.098
Towards the opportunity of
more locals improve their
knowledge about their
carnivores’ neighbours
0.283
Towards the installation of
ponds for wildlife drink water
especially in the dry season
0.207
Towards new enterprises
supported by the management
agency as alternative to
traditional livelihoods
0.194
Knowledge on ecology and
behaviour of jaguar and
puma
Towards exclusion of people
from protected areas known as
carnivores’ territories
0.814
Habits related to traditional
husbandry practices
Towards proximity of
carnivores
Natural areas for livestock
grazing during day
0.003
0.005
Structures available (or not)
as night-shelters for
livestock
0.036
0.151
Areas excluded (or not)
from livestock access to
prevent predation
0.016
0.041
Gathering livestock (or not)
every end of the day
Towards exclusion of people
from protected areas known as
carnivores’ territories
1.000
Potential transition for
husbandry including
improved corrals as pen-
proof attack of carnivores
0.628
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Table 2: Factors that determine attitudes towards jaguars and pumas in Caatinga
Factor
Effect
Reference
OR
p-value
Number of events of loss
1.39
0.084
Social norm to poach
jaguar (or puma)
More than 1
6.7
<0.001
Landowner
Yes
No
0.28
0.043
Income
Livestock or farming
Pension
or social
benefit
0.5
0.183
Occasional
employment
0.13
0.019
Fixed employment
0.07
0.04
Figure 2: Odds ratios of factors influencing attitudes towards jaguars and
pumas in Caatinga
To assess human dimensions of HWC beyond socioeconomic aspects,
questions on beliefs towards co-occurrence with jaguar and puma and
perception of abundance of these species’ populations were applied.
Regarding beliefs about co-occurrence with jaguars or pumas, 80.9% and
82.9% of respondents, respectively, mentioned to expect more problems than
benefits, with 74.5% believing in the increase of both species’ populations
due to the establishment of protected areas. Table 2 and Figure 2 shows from
the highest to the lowest, the factors that determined attitudes towards
jaguars and pumas in the Brazilian dry forest.
The model predicts attitudes through ‘number of problems’ (events of
loss, from themselves or neighbours), ‘social norms’, ‘land tenure’ and
‘source of income’. The probability of negative attitude towards carnivores
increased 39% with each event of predation by a jaguar (or puma), being his
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own livestock or reported by an acquaintance. Someone who would get
approval for a behaviour of persecution and poaching of jaguar (or puma)
from at least one of his acquaintances, had 6.7 more chances to display a
negative attitude towards the species. If the person did not own the land, the
chance of displaying a negative attitude towards the species increased 3.6
times (=1/0.28). People depending on a retirement pension had more
negative attitudes towards the species.
To assess relationships between people and institutions, questions on
knowledge about institutions working for jaguar or puma conservation, and
about institutions working for people facing problems caused by jaguar or
puma, were applied. Of respondents, 64.9% were unaware of the presence
in the region of institutions working for jaguar or puma conservation, and
88.8% of institutions working for people facing problems caused by jaguar
or puma. Among those who answered, 80.2% also declared not feeling
capable of controlling the threat that jaguar or puma may become.
4. DISCUSSION
Results tend to draw our attention from the business-as-usual aspects
that make someone vulnerable to conflict with carnivores, even though the
features of Caatinga socio-ecological system provide us a set of variables
improbable to find out of semi-arid environments, to aspects that depend
more on interpersonal and person-institutions relationships, such as those
that may undermine or promote “good” governance.
Jaguar population in “Boqueirão da Onça” is estimated at
approximately 30 individuals, and puma population, approximately 120
individuals (Campos, 2019, pers. comm.). Puma’s behaviour contrasts with
jaguar behaviour also in aspects related to proximity to human settlements
and their properties, puma being more confident in approaching than jaguar.
From all the South American felids, puma is the most plastic,
25
which
translates into more sights of pumas and more encounters of pumas and
livestock, many ending with depredation. Kansky and Knight
26
distinguish
two human dimensions of human-wildlife conflicts: species characteristics
and experience species. Species characteristics relate to species attributes,
including the perceptions on presence versus absence, abundance or
frequency of sightseeing or reports from a third party. Experience species
concern the kind of experience that one may have in the encounter (personal
or his property) with one individual of that species or the impact of one’s
perception of abundance of that species. Less residents saw or heard reports
about jaguar compared to puma. Consistently, respondents highlighted the
elusiveness of jaguar compared to puma. People having trouble with jaguar
25
ICMBio, ‘Sumário Executivo Do Plano De Ação Nacional Para a Conservação Da Onça-Parda’ 1
<http://www.icmbio.gov.br/portal/images/stories/docs-plano-de-acao/pan-onca-parda/sumario-
onçaparda-icmbio-web.pdf> accessed 4 August 2021.
26
Ruth Kansky and Andrew T Knight, ‘Key Factors Driving Attitudes towards Large Mammals in
Conflict with Humans’ (2014) 179 Biological Conservation 93
<https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006320714003255> accessed 4 August 2021.
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(all predation events) is less than half of those having problems with puma
(predominantly predation events). However, the intolerance is higher
towards jaguar proximity. That may be a consequence of the impact of a
predation event caused by a jaguar (or the attack to humans, which is present
in few accounts from the elders only and related to rare events that took place
decades ago). Thus, it is not the frequency, it is not the number of lost animals
- it is the strength printed in one’s mind,
27
comparably higher with jaguar, a
large carnivore, rarely seen, with the size of a man, with impressive strength
and beauty.
Once we match this with the belief of majority of respondents that not
only lack knowledge about the potential benefits of co-occurrence with
charismatic species (mammal-watching tourism, scientific tourism, among
others) but also belief that management agency prioritize jaguar and puma
abundance and welfare in detriment to villagers safety and life quality, a
weakness of governance seem exposed in the shape of unequal knowledge
about the purpose of the protected area and imbalance in decision-making
about wildlife management that may compromise human well-being and
traditional livelihoods. The main economic activity in Caatinga and the
second source of families’ income (the first is retirement pension) is extensive
livestock growing (mainly goats and sheep). Herds have few animals, and
they represent the savings for a family emergency. The traditional
husbandry with animals grazing in the wild expose livestock to many
threats, including depredation. Few families have appropriate corrals as
night-shelters, despite 96% of the respondents stating their perception of the
importance of an improved pen to prevent attacks. Their socioeconomic
vulnerability arises masked as perception of risk for co-occurrence with the
predator, compromising their livelihoods. Social benefits availed in the last
two decades by the central government, especially ‘bolsa-família’ and
‘retirement pension for small farmers’, allowed an upgrade in human
development in the rural communities residing within or surrounding
natural areas.
28
Many became less dependent on natural resources, in theory
less dependent on bushmeat to have animal protein in the family menu. A
lower hunting pressure on jaguar and puma natural prey would help to
mitigate the HWC, but in Caatinga that is to be assessed still. Governmental
assistance prevents more frequent hunting, thus, supposedly, less exposure
to free-ranging wild animals. Combined with the acknowledgement of
elusiveness of jaguar (puma too, however less), paves the path for a low
perception of risk to personal safety. A “good” governance of natural
resources benefits people and biodiversity and must provide a framework
that mitigate biodiversity conflicts and eliminate or reduce diffuse aspects
that ease broader social conflicts.
29
27
Daniel Kahneman, ‘Pensar Depressa e Devagar’ [2012] Maia: Círculo de Leitores.
28
Carlos Fioravanti, ‘A Corrosão Da Caatinga’ (2018) 266 Revista Pesquisa Fapesp 60.
<https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/a-corrosao-da-caatinga/> accessed 4 Ausgust 2021.
29
Borrini and others (n 1).
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Biodiversity conflicts goes beyond the impact that wildlife causes on
humans and the impact that humans cause on wildlife and includes the
conflicts between humans either for dissonant opinions about species
and/or wildlife management.
30
The opposing values gridlock of nature
protectionists and social conservationists
31
has fostered biodiversity conflicts
when the issues are protected areas and wildlife management. Economic
rationalism suggests that communities within and surrounding protected
areas respond firstly to economic triggers, either for the enforcement
(negative) or for leisure opportunities, economic aid to conservation and
educational programs related to benefits provided by the protected area
(positive)
32
However, previous studies have shown that transparency in the
relations established between institutions and between institutions and
communities is key for interests’ conciliation,
33
and trust between
stakeholders determines acceptability (or intolerance) towards protected
areas.
34
In Brazil many protected areas were established during the military
regime and the wildlife management agency performing managerial
programs, projects and plans within and surrounding protected areas
(ICMBIO) is fourteen years old only and demands time and effort
withdrawing from its progenitor (IBAMA) whose role is control and law
enforcement. The lack of engagement and the novelty of call for
participation, plus the reflexivity on truth, justice and equity guiding
governmental decision-making processes, from its initial phases, are
becoming subject and routine recently.
35
Caatinga is in the early stages of
engagement, once responses indicate the fact that the majority of those who
cooperated with the research did not know about the existence of institutions
responsible for wildlife or wildlife management.
Sensitivity increases when Caatinga’ history and economic policies
and its priorities are acknowledged. Due to frequent and severe droughts
that caused mass migrations and thousands of deaths, at the end of the 19th
century, the first ideas of the São Francisco River transposition emerged. For
30
Beatrice Frank, ‘Human–Wildlife Conflicts and the Need to Include Tolerance and Coexistence:
An Introductory Comment’ (2016) 29 Society & Natural Resources 738
<https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2015.1103388> accessed 4 Ausgust 2021.
31
Adrian Phillips, ‘Turning Ideas on Their Head: The New Paradigm For Protected Areas’ (2003)
20 The George Wright Forum 8 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/43599027> accessed 4 August 2021.
32
Katrina Eadie Brandon and Michael Wells, ‘Planning for People and Parks: Design Dilemmas’
(1992) 20 World Development 557
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0305750X9290044V> accessed 4 August
2021.; John F Oates, Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest: How Conservation Strategies Are
Failing in West Africa (University of California Press 1999) <https://www.nhbs.com/myth-and-
reality-in-the-rain-forest-book> accessed 4 August 2021.
33
Thaddeus R Miller, Ben A Minteer and Leon-C Malan, ‘The New Conservation Debate: The
View from Practical Ethics’ (2011) 144 Biological Conservation 948
<https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006320710001448> accessed 4 August 2021.
34
Marc J Stern, ‘The Power of Trust: Toward a Theory of Local Opposition to Neighboring
Protected Areas’ (2008) 21 Society & Natural Resources 859
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920801973763> accessed 4 August 2021.
35
Charles R Warren and others, ‘“Green On Green”: Public Perceptions of Wind Power in Scotland
and Ireland’ (2005) 48 Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 853
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09640560500294376> accessed 4 August 2021.
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the engineering project to be implemented (meaning the creation of the sixth
largest artificial lake in the world, “Sobradinho” Dam) many villages were
resettled from river margins to places where people had no history,
connection or skills to dwell. It was not their choice, it happened as a top-
down decision and process with irreversible impacts on livelihoods.
Memory of that is still alive with many elders and their descendants. With
democracy and human development reaching regions for decades
inaccessible and excluded from the right to be inquired and partaking in
decision-making on projects, programs and policies that impact their lives -
governance -, now they demand to articulate their needs and claims when it
comes to the uses of their territories.
For the public administration and management agencies it is necessary
to distinguish among public support to a goal (such as conservation) from
public support to public policies to achieve that goal (such as the
establishment of protected areas coexisting with traditional livelihoods and
quality of life for human populations). It also requires from the management
agencies to break the patterns that caused power imbalances and nowadays
are present in residents' speeches displaying their perception of vulnerability
and unheard voices.
The high potential for energy generation from renewable sources in
Caatinga matches the increasing demand for energy and the need to change
the energetic matrix in Brazil. Wind and solar farms are the newest uses of
territory, with economic incentives and support from central and state
governments. The weak governance takes form as perception of
vulnerability and perpetuation of inequality, injustice and negligence.
Informal comments such as, “I have to change traditional husbandry
practices to prevent the livestock from grazing in the wild and thus diminish
the chance of encountering the predator, even not having economic
conditions to do it?”; “I have to change hunting behaviour and habits of
growing, to set livestock aside from natural areas and protect wildlife. But
wind farms are being installed in pristine areas…”; “Will I be forced to move
from here, like my ancestors were by government decision?”; were
articulated by respondents, displaying feelings and uncertainties on what
the future may be.
This complex and rapidly changing scenario, driven by external forces,
fosters intolerance towards the major representatives of conservation
initiatives, the charismatic jaguar and puma, ironically subject to the same
external forces and out of its control. It helps to understand why none of the
assessed human dimensions in the scale of individual (schooling level,
knowledge on ecology and behaviour of jaguar and puma, or habits related
to traditional husbandry practices) explained attitudes towards jaguar,
puma, protected areas or wildlife management. It helps to understand the
incoherence between the perception of the importance of an improved pen
as night-shelter for livestock to prevent attacks from most respondents (96%)
and the almost one third of respondents unwilling to change traditional
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practices (30.8%). Kahneman
36
would label this as gambler’s fallacy, that
happens when people evaluate the probability of a certain event by assessing
how similar it is to events that they have experienced before. People
acknowledging their socioeconomic constraints, public administration
negligence and power imbalances when corporations and government
interests seem to prevail over their livelihoods, do not rely on any external
support to enable conditions for behaviour change - furthermore feel
incapable to control the threat that carnivore may become and retaliate
(intentionally or unintentionally) with inaction.
Historically Caatinga was the backyard for sugarcane producers in the
coastal North-eastern capitals, like Olinda, Recife, and Salvador, that
depended on livestock as draught-animals and as a second source of income.
Cowboys (“vaqueiros”) lead those animals to native pastures, leave them in
the higher altitudes for five to six months, and then lead them back.
37
This
transhumance in the “sertões”, no one’s land, built a nomadic-gathering-
hunter man, until the golden age of sugar in north-eastern reached its end.
The nomadic-state-of-mind and the utilitarian value of the natural resources
seems to prevail, despite the increase in human settlements in number and
size. “Vaqueiros” became small farmers (in the rainy season) and goat and
sheep growers, species very well adapted to the environment. Jaguars and
pumas continue to be a problem, like they were in the past, a threat to
livelihood, and losing an animal is an economic loss and a reminder of that
dispute of territory, resources and strength, between man and carnivore.
Belief that co-occurrence with jaguar and puma brings more problems than
benefits persist as an inherited memory. A “good” governance would help
to improve present and future co-occurrence with carnivores.
Furthermore, Caatinga biome is the less protected Brazilian biome,
only 7.4% of the region is within protected areas,
38
less than 2.0% belongs to
the full protection category (Brazilian System of Conservation Units that
allows only research, environmental education and tourism regulated by the
Management Plan of the area) and even though inadequate to safeguard its
biodiversity.
39
It is recent the accessibility to villages and communities in this
extensive region, and energy and communication is still unstable in many of
them. To engage residents in a participatory consultation and decision-
making process that will lead to the creation of conservation units within the
timeframe required is a challenge for both parties: government and civil
society, for financial, logistic, language and preparedness constraints to deal
fairly and with transparency with social and cultural diversity. Thus many
expressed their concern with the potential increase of jaguar and puma
populations abundance because they were not clarified neither about the
36
Kahneman (n 27).
37
Manuel Correia de Andrade, A Terra e o Homem No Nordeste (Editora Universitaria UFPE
1998).
38
José Maria Cardoso da Silva and others, Caatinga (José Maria Cardoso da Silva, Inara R Leal and
Marcelo Tabarelli eds, Springer International Publishing 2017)
<http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-68339-3> accessed 4 August 2021.
39
ibid.
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meaning of conservation units (categories, purposes and shared
responsibilities); nor about the fact that large roaming animals, demanding
vast areas to survival, do not acknowledge borders; nor about tangible and
intangible benefits that neighbouring protected areas with occurrence of
charismatic species may bring to people.
40
A strategy of stakeholders’
engagement since the planning for novel uses of territory and land could
pave the path for a better and stronger governance, mitigating biodiversity
conflicts and conciliating nature and social conservationists aims.
Brookfield
41
said that decision-makers base their decisions in an
environment according to their perceptions about it, which may or not match
with what the environment actually is. However, actions based on their
decisions are played in a real environment. Mature institutions performing
public policies in a diverse socio-ecological system like the Brazilian semi-
arid need to reinforce this mindset.
Finally, among the human dimensions influencing attitudes towards
jaguar, puma, protected areas or wildlife management, social norms came
first. Understanding the history of Caatinga occupation and land-use
patterns, the consequence of large-scale projects, government policies and
residents’ adjustments and development are steps to improve governance of
natural resources. Nevertheless, despite Caatinga human populations highly
depend on natural resources, the exercise of power and responsibilities over
it and the participation in decision-making, are not determined just by
ecological or economic aspects influencing individuals.
42
Norms and
institutions underlie perceptions and attitudes. This research highlighted the
socioeconomic vulnerability of Caatinga inhabitants, their perception of risk
and their economic loss as consequence of co-occurrence with jaguar and
puma, but also unveiled how conservation initiatives and management
agencies from public administration failed to address human dimensions of
human-wildlife conflicts beyond economic factors. An effective and fair
governance hopefully will acknowledge the strong cultural features of
Brazilian semi-arid dwellers, the “sertanejo” traditional livelihood, whose
history and relationship with nature are as old as the rocky paintings in
Caatinga domains. And will allow jaguars and pumas to thrive.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Framing the assessed human dimensions of HWC in Brazilian Dry
Forest within the IUCN concept and aims of natural resources governance
allowed to show that jaguar and puma are consciously or unconsciously
retaliated by livestock growers and dwellers and neighbours of protected
areas, as a response to their perception of vulnerabilities, lack of control of
40
Kansky and Knight (n 26).
41
Harold C Brookfield, ‘On the Environment as Perceived’ (1969) 1 Progress in Geography:
International Reviews of Current Research 51.
42
Timothy D Baird, Paul W Leslie and J Terrence McCabe, ‘The Effect of Wildlife Conservation
on Local Perceptions of Risk and Behavioral Response’ (2009) 37 Human Ecology
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/40343988> accessed 4 August 2021.
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potential threats to their livelihood, lack of transparency from management
agencies, power imbalances among stakeholder, and exclusion from
decision-making processes. Jaguar and puma become scapegoats for
unattained expectations on fundamental rights and wide participation in all
stages of processes that impact traditional communities and natural
resources that they depend upon.
Similarities with individual aspects of residents and neighbours of
protected areas also home to charismatic species in other biomes were found.
Nevertheless, this research went further by assessing external aspects that
influence one's attitudes, perceptions and beliefs towards jaguar, pumas,
wildlife management and protected areas, such as interpersonal relations
and people-institutions relationships. Elements from historic occupancy of
the semi-arid and socioeconomic dynamics related to priorities in territory
and land uses and perceived inequalities were brought to the arena of
impacts on jaguar and puma conservation. Results may provide valuable
insights for managers of this complex socio-ecological system, a
management ideally shared by public administration and citizens.
It is now known that residents of Brazilian Dry Forest co-occurring
with jaguar and puma do not tolerate proximity with individuals from these
species, with higher intolerance towards jaguars. The perception of risk to
their livelihoods as a result of co-occurrence with jaguar and puma was
higher than the perception of risk to personal safety.
It is not their schooling level, or knowledge on ecology and behaviour
of jaguar and puma, or habits related to traditional husbandry practices that
influence attitudes towards jaguar, puma, protected areas or wildlife
management. Were social norms, predation events causing livestock loss,
land tenure and income that emerged as the human dimensions influencing
attitudes towards jaguar, puma, protected areas or wildlife management.
Peoples’ unawareness about the existence of institutions working for jaguar
and puma conservation or for people facing problems caused by jaguar or
puma is high, which combined with their perception of lack of control of the
threat that jaguar or puma may become, increased their perception of self-
vulnerability to conflict with these carnivores.
The belief that co-occurrence with jaguar and puma brings more
problems than benefits prevailed, and most residents articulated their
certainty that the establishment of protected areas would favour the
increasing of jaguar and puma populations. If certain aspects may change by
one’s decision and power, others depend on projects, programs and policies
being discussed, built, availed, implemented, monitored and adjusted
through the dialogical, fair and inclusive process of democracy.
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AUTHORS’ DECLARATIONS AND ESSENTIAL ETHICAL COMPLIANCES
Authors’ Contributions (in accordance with ICMJE criteria for authorship)
Contribution
Author 1
Author 2
Author 3
Author 4
Conceived and designed the research
or analysis
Yes
No
No
Yes
Collected the data
Yes
No
No
No
Contributed to data analysis &
interpretation
Yes
No
No
Yes
Wrote the article/paper
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Critical revision of the article/paper
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Editing of the article/paper
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Supervision
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Project Administration
Yes
No
No
No
Funding Acquisition
No
No
No
No
Overall Contribution Proportion (%)
50
15
15
20
Funding
CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento do Pessoal de Nível Superior,
Chester Zoo, University of São Paulo - Coordenação de Pós-Graduação.
Ethical Committee Approval
An approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee in Research involving
Human Beings (CEP) with the no. CAAE n. 68314417.1.0000.5395, 28th June
2017 (CEP); SISBIO n. 67264-1 (Art. 28, IN 03/2014).
Research involving human bodies (Helsinki Declaration)
Has this research used human subjects for experimentation? No
Research involving animals (ARRIVE Checklist)
Has this research involved animal subjects for experimentation? No
Research involving Plants
During the research, the authors followed the principles of the Convention
on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Yes
Research on Indigenous Peoples and/or Traditional Knowledge
Has this research involved Indigenous Peoples as participants or
respondents? No
(Optional) PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-
Analyses)
Have authors complied with PRISMA standards? Yes
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Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro Martins, Francine Schulz, Carolina Franco Esteves, Silvio Marchini
Competing Interests/Conflict of Interest
Authors have no competing financial, professional, or personal interests
from other parties or in publishing this manuscript.
RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS
Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and
reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit
to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons
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to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
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