Farmer Attitudes
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Increase support for the return of the Caucasian leopard
Data collection in progress
Kakheti Steppes
Georgia
Problem: The Caucasian leopard used to exist in the project area, but has been extirpated and not sighted since 2009, primarily due to persecution by farmers. This top predator is missing from this ecosystem’s trophic web, and long-term goals are to return it to the region, in addition to boosting its natural prey (gazelles), as an alternative food source to livestock.
Action: SABUKO is working to engage with farmers to change their attitudes towards acceptance of the return of this key species. They are conducting an awareness-raising campaign so farmers can learn about the benefits of returning this species to the landscape.
Indicator: SABUKO will monitor the effect of its awareness-raising campaign by tracking farmers’ attitudes about the hypothetical return of the Caucasian leopard – critical information as this is the group that would be most affected by this species’ return.
Methods
SABUKO collected baseline data on farmer attitudes by conducting semi-structured interviews with farmers in the project area in February-March 2024. In addition to asking farmers about their feelings about wildlife generally, they asked about the Caucasian leopard specifically, using the photo-elicitation method by showing all farmers the same photo of a leopard. The target group was farmers using the three main territories within the project area as winter pastures. All active and currently functioning farms, 61 in total (see Table 1, right), that agreed to participate in the interviews were included in the dataset. Additionally, in future a separate, control group of farmers will also be interviewed, who will not receive the awareness-raising campaign, to be better able to attribute any change in attitudes in the treatment group to their campaign. The control group will be selected from similar demographic and geographic profiles as the intervention group, but ensuring they are sufficiently separated to avoid crossover effects. This will involve choosing farmers from nearby areas that do not participate in the campaign activities but share similar characteristics and potential exposure to leopards.
Table 1: Number of farmers surveyed across the project areas.
Another survey will be conducted towards the end of the funding period, after the awareness-raising campaign, to assess if their advocacy had an impact on farmers’ acceptance of the potential return of the leopard.
Farmers participating in interviews about their attitudes towards the return of the Caucasian leopard in interviews conducted as part of SABUKO’s awareness campaign. Photo: Giorgi Chikorashvili.
Farmers share their perspectives on the return of the Caucasian leopard in interviews conducted as part of SABUKO’s awareness campaign. Photo: Giorgi Chikorashvili.
Results
Baseline results from the start of the project revealed that almost all farmers had never seen a leopard (Fig. 1), a majority of farmers were unaware the leopards used to live in their area (Fig. 2), and most farmers felt either negatively (48%) or neutral (36%) about the return of the leopard to the area (Fig. 3).
When splitting responses by territory, interestingly farmers in Chachuna were less open to the leopard’s return than Samukhi and Vashlovani (Fig. 4), a significant difference (Kruskal-Wallis p-value = 0.0002).
Figure 1: Farmer survey responses.
Figure 2: Farmer survey responses.
Figure 3: Farmer survey responses.
Figure 4: Farmer survey responses.
Interpretation
Vashlovani has been a protected area for a longer time, which has likely contributed to stricter enforcement on grazing activities. This may have resulted in less resistance towards the potential return of leopards, as people might not feel as directly impacted. In contrast, areas like Chachuna, where such protections might not be as entrenched, could have more concerns about human-wildlife conflict, explaining their lower acceptance.
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