Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Washington
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Climate change and human-wildlife conflict are both pressing challenges for biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing in the Anthropocene. Climate change is a critical yet underappreciated amplifier of human-wildlife conflict, as it exacerbates resource scarcity, alters human and animal behaviors and distributions, and increases human-wildlife encounters. We synthesize evidence of climate-driven conflicts occurring among 10 taxonomic orders, on six continents, and in all five oceans. Such conflicts disrupt both subsistence livelihoods and industrial economies, and may accelerate the rate at which human-wildlife conflict drives wildlife declines. We introduce a framework describing distinct environmental, ecological, and sociopolitical pathways through which climate variability and change percolate through complex social-ecological systems to influence patterns and outcomes of human-wildlife interactions. Identifying these pathways allows for developing mitigation strategies and proactive policies to limit the impacts of human-wildlife conflict on biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing in a changing climate.