Accurate media coverage can lessen human-wildlife conflicts, experts say

Bagamoyo. Accurate media coverage of confrontations between wild animals and human beings is important in fostering sustainable coexistence between the two, experts have said.

The government, along with various stakeholders, has made substantial investments in sustainable conservation initiatives aimed at mitigating human-wildlife conflicts (HWC).

However, experts who spoke at a tailor-made journalist training session over the weekend cautioned that if media coverage continues to portray these interactions negatively, the effectiveness of those efforts could be undermined.

The training has been organised by the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) with the support of the Mitigation of Human Wildlife Conflicts in Tanzania project implemented by GIZ on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The project is being implemented in the Ruvuma landscape by the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT).

Officiating the opening of the training, the Head of Communications Department at MNRT, Mr John Mapepere, said that the fact that a third of Tanzania has been reserved for wildlife makes conservation urgent and important.

“The contribution of journalists to conservation efforts is very important,” he noted.

The Advisor, Mitigation of Human-Wildlife Conflicts, from GIZ, Anna Kimambo, added that it was important for journalists to visit the field to get all the facts when reporting about these conflicts.

Sometimes media coverage has been rushed and ends up containing half-truths about what happened, which raises fear and resentment towards animals.

“There was a case in which the media reported that an elephant attacked and killed a person in his own house. But the truth was that the person had been killed in the forests, the natural habitat of wild animals,” she noted.

The problem with that kind of reporting, she added, is that people stop feeling safe in their own homes and tend to attack animals that happen to pass near people’s settlements for fear of being attacked.

“Animals react when they are attacked. Had the media coverage been accurate, it might have lessened the conflicts. And we must remember that there are villages that are located in the middle of the routes that animals use to pass from one protected area to another,” she said.

It was part of efforts to solve inaccurate reporting issues that prompted GIZ to sponsor field visits as part of the Mitigation of Human Wildlife Conflicts in Tanzania project.

JET executive director John Chikomo said the association would coordinate journalist visits to the Ruvuma Landscape to report HWC issues in a manner that facilitates solutions to those issues.

“We will send journalists in groups of six to villages in Namtumbo and Tunduru districts in Ruvuma Region and Masasi district in Mtwara Region to report on human-wildlife conflicts with the aim of raising the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders,” he said.

An independent human-wildlife conflict expert and consultant, John Noronha, said media coverage should reflect the fact that human beings and wildlife need to co-exist because of the expanding population.

“The ultimate goal of any conservation efforts should be to promote sustainable coexistence in such a manner that people and wild animals share resources in a manner that does not lead to lethal confrontations,” Mr Noronha noted.

The training that brought together 37 participants was meant to strengthen the capacity of journalists and local media houses to report on the magnitude and mitigation measures of HWC effectively, accurately, and adequately in the country.