A landscape analysis across 2,803 wards in Nepal’s Terai from 2018–2022 mapped human attacks and livestock depredation and modelled landscape factors associated with incident occurrence and frequency.
Key findings
- There were 584 human attacks in 187 wards, 67% caused by elephants, wild boars and rhinos, and 4,267 livestock-depredation incidents in 211 wards, 99% caused by leopards and tigers. Proximity to protected areas, corridors and larger forests predicted occurrence and frequency, with some hotspots beyond buffers.
Why this matters globally
The findings support risk-targeted warnings, wildlife-resilient infrastructure, compensation and awareness, including transboundary settings, rather than restricting mitigation to formal buffer zones.
Thai researcher contribution
Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt, jointly affiliated with the Asian Institute of Technology, contributed to the team. This is Thai-affiliated international collaboration, while all incident data come from Nepal.
Limitations to consider
Incident records may be affected by reporting and agency differences. Ward-level analysis risks ecological fallacy, habitat proximity does not itself prove causation, and mitigation effectiveness and costs were not tested. Field validation is needed.