In many places around the world, humans and wildlife don’t share the same spaces.

In others, humans and wildlife are in nearly constant contact.

For example, in Kenya’s savannahs, elephants and black rhinos share the land with pastoral Maasai communities.

And that proximity can become dangerous, even deadly, when resources are scarce: It’s estimated that hundreds of people and thousands of animals die every year as a result of human-wildlife conflict.

Now, a new study from Conservation International shows one way to reduce the risks:

Restore grasslands.

The problem of human-wildlife conflict is “a competition problem,” said Camila Donatti, lead author of the study and a Conservation International expert on climate change adaptation. “When grassland ecosystems are degraded and out of balance, they can’t support wildlife and the livestock that pastoralists raise, which leads to conflict.”

In areas where grasslands were restored, communities reported a significant decline in human-wildlife conflicts, Donatti said.

For this study, conflict included crop raiding by wildlife, livestock killing by wildlife, damages to assets and properties by wildlife and lethal and non-lethal attacks on humans by wildlife. Restoration practices focused on sustainably managing livestock, pruning bushes that threaten to outcompete grasses, and seeding degraded areas with native grasses.

The study, conducted over 16 months with data collected from more than 1,500 households, took place in Chyulu Hills, Kenya, where a Conservation International project (in partnership with Apple) has restored 11,000 hectares (27,180 acres) of degraded grasslands to date and which aims to restore 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) by 2027.

In addition to a decline in human-wildlife conflicts, the study also found a reduction in social conflicts among community members and a decline in feelings of insecurity.

"Grassland restoration is helping to restore balance to our land and our people,” said Samson Parashina, Chairman of Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. “With healthier pastures, we see fewer conflicts — both with wildlife and within our own community. While challenges remain, having more grazing land means less competition, making it easier for people and wildlife to share the land without constant struggle.”

Before this study, the connection between healthy grassland ecosystems and conflict had not been widely explored, Donatti said.

“Conflict is often an overlooked symptom of climate change and biodiversity loss,” Donatti said. “But for the people living on the front lines, the effects can be devastating.”

Grasslands, in the Chyulu Hills and elsewhere, are under increasing stress from climate change and human activity, she said. As grasslands become drier and hotter, trees, shrubs and bushes often outcompete grasses and disrupt food sources for livestock and wildlife.

Wildlife plays a key role in the health of grasslands. For example, elephants act as “ecosystem engineers,” pushing over trees to maintain savanna ecosystems, excavating waterholes and fertilizing the land with their dung. But if they can’t find enough food, they can wander into farms, destroying crops and sometimes killing people or livestock.

Wildlife isn’t beneficial only to the grasslands — ultimately it helps humans, too, as grasslands are an underappreciated climate ally. Stretching across 40 percent of the planet, they hold more than a third of the world’s land-based carbon in their vast underground root and soil systems. Then there’s the “albedo effect,” which is the ability of a surface to reflect sunlight back to the atmosphere: Light-colored areas, such as grasslands, are more reflective than darker-colored trees, meaning they provide a cooling effect.

The study’s findings are increasingly urgent, as climate change is expected to lead to even greater human-wildlife conflict, according to recent Conservation International research.

“Our findings are very promising,” Donatti said. “There’s so much potential to foster human security and consequently protect wildlife through grassland restoration and other solutions rooted in nature.”

The study was financially supported by The Global EbA Fund. The Global EbA Fund is a catalytic funding mechanism for supporting innovative approaches to Ecosystem-based Adaptation to create enabling environments for its mainstreaming and scaling up. The fund is financed by International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and co-managed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and partners. Learn more about the Fund and apply for a grant through the website: https://globalebafund.org

Mary Kate McCoy is a staff writer at Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates. Also, please consider supporting our critical work.