17. Integrating remote sensing with CBNRM for desert-adapted lion conservation

This chapter explains how Global Positioning System (GPS) data on lion movements can contribute to community-oriented conservation. Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) of desert-adapted lions presents an array of cultural and scientific challenges to local communities living alongside lions. A significant challenge for lion conservationists is the ability to rigorously monitor lion movements in the unfenced landscapes of north-west Namibia, where monitoring challenges are compounded by low levels of information relevant to lion habitat-use and movement ecology in dryland areas. The chapter documents new uses in this area of data collected via satellite-GPS collars affixed to lions, and via trail cameras placed in designated core wildlife areas within communal conservancies and government concessions. Remote sensing methods of carnivore monitoring are now contributing to lion conservation and the mitigation of ‘human-lion conflict’ on communal lands in Namibia’s Kunene Region. The chapter emphasises how this technology and associated data are being incorporated into the Lion Rangers’ program, a CBNRM initiative in which trained community conservationists take responsibility for monitoring lions and managing human-lion conflict on communal lands.