Wildlife Corridor Restoration

Natural wildlife movement corridors are being restored in fragmented landscapes to reconnect animal populations and restore wildlife habitats. This can benefit people, enhancing soil and water quality, and biodiversity. Another critical goal of corridor restoration is to reduce human-wildlife conflict by managing wildlife movement through village land. This working group will co-create interdisciplinary evidence that can inform tree restoration in agricultural landscapes in a way that balances the needs of people with the ecological targets of the restoration. The group will develop guidance on processes and tools that should be used when planning and implementing sustainable tree restoration projects in the rural tropics.

OUR APPROACH: In southern Tanzania, local NGO STEP is facilitating a pioneering restoration of the Kilombero Elephant Corridor for co-management by communities and government stakeholders. With this area as a case study, our team will use tools and data from natural and social sciences to document the realities of tree restoration interventions in the field. We will evaluate conflict hotspots, highlight critical data gaps and develop a bottom-up approach for restoration management in human-modified landscapes elsewhere.