Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique

Thèse soutenue en 24 septembrev2019

Contact : adholatitus@yahoo.com

Thèmes de Recherche

Taphonomie, Anthropologie, Écologie

Intitulé de la thèse : Ecologie et conservation des grands carnivores au Kenya : apport sur les conflits Hommes-Carnivores.

Historically, Kenya, just like other parts of Africa, has seen dramatic anthropogenic initiated changes, across its diversity of habitats : forests and grasslands being converted into homesteads and farmlands ; the human population is increasing when the wildlife is decreasing which constitutes the ‘anthropocene’ (anthropic period and/or impact). Over time, this has led to human-wildlife conflict, becoming a major anthropological challenge within a socio-economic context (agro-pastoralism) and has to be envisioned through time (i.e. Quaternary), as man competes with wildlife for utilization of limited resources. Samburu (study area), a semi-arid landscape, is characterized by seasonal variations in surface water and vegetation resources, with several implications for humans and their livestock, wild carnivores and wild herbivores. Livestock depredation causes serious damage to local economies, and tends to reinforce negative attitudes towards conservation initiatives and wild carnivores. These perceptions can have strong emotional and political consequences, ultimately resulting in the persecution of carnivores. To this end, conservation of large carnivores through the management of human-carnivore conflict, as proposed by this study, would therefore benefit from a better understanding of both the sociological and ecological determinants, of actual livestock damage caused by large carnivores ; and, the threat of damage that affected people perceive. This will better facilitate the process of working towards a consensus to enhance tolerance of large carnivore presence in a pastoralist dominated landscape of northern Kenya. Bone surveys will be conducted to test for relationships between bone assemblages and vertebrate species richness, population abundances and habitat structure of the Samburu ecosystem. The study will also attempt to look into correlations between bone assemblages and varying levels of predator and scavenger pressure on prey populations. These results will lay the groundwork for integrating paleobiological and contemporary ecological studies across evolutionary and ecological time scales. To this end, It is expected that the outcome of this PhD research would constitute a referential point for the questions of past human groups, from Paleolithic and Neolithic societies.

Encadrant : Jean-Philip Brugal (HDR,DR, CNRS, UMR 7269)

Financements :
– French Government PhD Scholarship (l’ambassade de France, Nairobi).
– Field research grants and field equipment grants awarded by following organisations as contribution to my PhD field research : Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique (IFRA), Nairobi ; Rufford Foundation ; The Association of France Alumni in Kenya (AFRAKEN) ; Idea Wild ; International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA)-funded-African-Large-Carnivores-Project.

Membre du Programme P2 de l’unité

Participations à des colloques

– September 2016 : I attended a one week 4th ICAZ Taphonomy Working Group Meeting entitled "General to Specific Quaternary Taphonomy" in Paris, France at the Auditorium de la Grande Galerie de l’Evolution.
– November 2015. Ecole thématique : Carnivores - Évolution, Écologie, Taphonomie, Archéologie (CEETA), Ariège, France : I participated in the one week intensive training workshop on carnivore evolution, ecology, taphonomy and archeology.
– August 2015. 5th Biennial Conference of East Africa Association for Palaeoanthropology and Palaeontology (EAAPP), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania : I presented a paper entitled " A historical look at challenges in the conservation of large carnivores in Kenya : where did we go wrong ?" during the one week conference.
– June 2014. International Conference on African Large Carnivores ;Impacts on Ecosystems and Humans : I helped organize the said conference hosted by the National Museums of Kenya and, sponsored by : The French embassy in Nairobi, International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), Human and Biosphere Commission and, Groupement de Recherche (GDR) 359 of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-INEE).
– July 2013. 1st African Student conference on conservation science : I was part of the Local Organising Committee that successfully organised a three-day maiden international student conference in Africa with the theme “Biodiversity in Africa – Present State, Challenges and Prospects for its Conservation” hosted by the National Museums of Kenya.