Elephants: Moving from Conflict to Coexistence with People-2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a forthcoming Special Issue of Diversity, focussing on existing human-elephant conflict (HEC), considering how we can work toward human–elephant coexistence by sharing research ideas and plans both within the African and Asian context.

African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants are both considered keystone species within their environments, as well as significant tourist attractions. However, elephants have undergone dramatic population size reductions of over 50% within the past three generations, being listed as endangered according to the IUCN Red Data List, with some species listed as critically endangered. Land conversion, because of growing human populations, has increasingly fragmented both the African and Asian elephant populations, decreasing the space available to elephants and the connectivity between Protected Areas (PAs). This fragmentation has led to increased levels of HEC, ranging from mild forms of conflict over elephant impact on their natural environment to more severe forms where both human and elephant lives have been lost.

The responsibility of managing HEC where people and elephants share the landscape within PAs is placed on reserve managers. Outside of PAs, governments are often tasked with ensuring human safety, frequently in poverty-stricken regions where elephants and people are in direct competition for limited resources. Research into HEC has thus been fundamental for establishing management solutions. Research topics within this field have varied from, among others, factors driving HEC, the socio-economic repercussions of HEC, the formation of policies around HEC, the philosophy around HEC, as well as strategies aimed at decreasing HEC and promoting coexistence. As research and mitigation strategies within the HEC field are continually evolving, the importance of sharing research results and management implications, both on intra- and intercontinental levels, is imperative for the long-term conservation of African and Asian elephants.

This Special Issue of Diversity provides an opportunity to combine and synthesize global developments concerning HEC research across the African and Asian continents. We kindly invite you to submit a manuscript, focused on any of the above topics, as well as study case scenarios and reviews within the broad topic. If you are interested in this opportunity or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Michelle Henley
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.