Community engagement: terms & definitions

Communal lands 

Communal lands are typically rural territories that are characterised by communal rights of access and individual use of resources, accompanied by group control in which members share reciprocal rights and duties. Communal lands are often occupied by smallholder farmers who rely on mixed subsistence crop and livestock farming and/or small-scale commercial farming. 

IFAW continues to engage those living closest to the animals and habitats we strive to protect to create positive, sustainable change through the following: 

• Approaches to human-wildlife conflict that take local development and conservation plans, human aspiration, social dynamics, sectoral plans, drivers of conflict, and local sociocultural contexts into consideration 
• Conservation advocacy, governance, and leadership that considers the socio-economic and political circumstances, wellbeing needs, and lived realities of those most directly reliant upon biodiversity, including core principles like ensuring a rights-based approach to conservation action in which community agency, access, and decision-making autonomy are supported—and revitalising the customary and local institutions that provide legitimate and adaptive strategies for biodiversity stewardship 
  
• Holistic education, which seeks to address the social, ethical, and environmental needs of buffer communities—we support integrated learning that provides whole-individual support (social, economic, and environmental) to members of communities living alongside wildlife, and we also create advocates for wildlife—educating people within the community so they can share their knowledge about human-animal coexistence with others. 
  
• The promotion of eco-friendly, nature-based livelihoods—these consist of climate-friendly activities that help restore ecosystems and protect biodiversity, which benefit the community by creating new and more resilient livelihood opportunities, creating jobs, and increasing incomes, including for vulnerable households 

We work respectfully, collaboratively, and inclusively with communities to find lasting solutions that work for wildlife, people, and domesticated animals. 

Constituency for conservation 

A constituency for conservation is a population of people who support conservation initiatives and will vote for local and global policy that protects nature and wildlife. IFAW aims to build a constituency for conservation through educational campaigns and community engagement. 

Critical landscape 

Critical landscapes are areas that support the movement of wildlife. Animals need adequate space to access resources, ensure gene flow, shift their ranges, and establish new territories. Critical landscapes support and maintain ecological processes and enhance connectivity (the degree to which the landscape facilitates or impedes animal movement). Despite being home to diverse wildlife species, including those that are endangered and threatened, human activity and climate change continue to threaten critical landscapes. 

IFAW is working to protect critical landscapes. As part of our Room to Roam initiative, we’re working with communities in Kenya and Tanzania to safeguard the elephant movement route between Amboseli and Kilimanjaro National Parks. In collaboration with the Wildlife Trust of India, we’ve also expanded protected land and restored keystone species in an important area for rhinos and other wildlife, the Greater Manas Landscape. 

Human-wildlife conflict 

Human-wildlife conflict describes interactions between humans and wildlife with negative outcomes. People and wildlife share much of the planet’s terrestrial surfaces, and as space increasingly overlaps, so does competition for limited resources, resulting in conflict. According to a 2024 study, the overlap between humans and animals is expected to rise across nearly 57% of the Earth’s land. 

Compounded by climate change, human-wildlife conflict has strongly emerged as a development and humanitarian concern, impacting most of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), making it a global significant threat to conservation and sustainable livelihoods. 

Inclusive participation 

Inclusive participation describes the process that empowers stakeholder groups including communities to participate in, benefit from, and own animal welfare and conservation initiatives that affect them. 

Indigenous Peoples 

IFAW works to bring Indigenous Peoples and traditional leaders into conservation projects through community engagement. Their knowledge of the land and wildlife is valuable to protecting it. 

Natural capital 

Natural capital includes all of the natural resources in an area that may give economic value or provide services to people. 

Poaching 

Poaching is the illegal hunting, trapping, or capturing of animals that are not one’s own, are a protected species, and/or are living in a protected area. Elephant poaching occurs because ivory is in high demand in various parts of the world. Rhinos are poached for their horns. But poaching doesn’t always involve the killing of animals. It also involves live trade and trafficking, for example, for the exotic pet trade. 

Social empowerment 

Social empowerment is a concept that promotes autonomy, self-determination, and direct participatory democracy, considering the sociocultural beliefs, knowledge, needs, interests, challenges, and opportunities of individuals and communities in relation to the ecosystems they gain value from. It aims to build the capacity of people living with wildlife to adapt to a changing environment. 

For example, the lives of women in rural Kenya have traditionally revolved around cooking, raising children, collecting firewood, harvesting water, and tending to livestock. All these activities take place close to wildlife areas. But despite their frequent interactions with nature, these women often don’t have access to equal opportunities and resources to earn an income or benefit from conservation initiatives. 

As part of our Inua Kijiji project, we’re empowering rural women to earn an income through bead-making, raise themselves out of poverty, and have the chance to access economic opportunities while simultaneously protecting Kenya’s endangered wildlife. In 2024, this project expanded into Illaingarunyoni Conservancy, an important migration corridor in Amboseli National Park. 

Sustainable land-use practices are methods of agriculture and other land usage that are environmentally friendly, wildlife-friendly, and regenerative. Examples include conservation tillage, cover cropping, and crop rotation, which can improve soil health, improve water filtration, and reduce erosion and degradation. 

Sustainable livelihood strategies 

Sustainable livelihoods are those that are viable in the long-term both for the working individual and the environment. With the threat of climate change and biodiversity loss, it’s more important than ever that people’s livelihoods are wildlife-friendly and climate-resilient. Sustainable livelihood strategies involve strategising how one makes a living, spends money, and preserves existing assets and income in a way that is sustainable. For example, climate-smart farming, which improves productivity and resilience while reducing emissions, can help communities, animals, and the planet. 

Traditional leaders 

Traditional leaders are those serving as leaders in their community who hold authority due to customary ideas like lineage and descent. Traditional leaders often serve Indigenous Peoples. IFAW works to amplify traditional leaders’ voices in conservation as stewards of nature.