ABSTRACT

This chapter describes how the proximity of transfrontier parks (TFPs) poses additional constraints for the people, including physical aggression by wildlife, destruction of crops, predation of livestock and disease transmission. Adopting a comparative and integrated perspective (including disease transmission as an integral component of human–wildlife conflicts resulting from animal movements), it builds on case studies from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique. The chapter seeks to identify key characteristics of these socio-ecological systems that are likely to reduce the magnitude of the negative consequences for people of animal movements across the edge of TFPs. It focuses on direct benefits that people living on the edges may receive from wild and domestic animal movements across the boundaries of protected areas. People living closer to the edges of protected areas suffer substantially more than those living further away, although some highly contagious wildlife-borne diseases can reach livestock populations located far from the boundaries of transfrontier conservation areas.