Human–Wildlife Conflict, Precarity and Gender Dynamics in Rural Bhutan

Abstract

In rural Bhutan, human-wildlife conflict (HWC) has turned into a widespread and growing issue affecting livelihood, well-being, and everyday life. This article explores the HWC in Denchukha, Samtse, drawing comparative analysis from Kurtoe, Lhuntse, using the experiences of local farmers. The increasing wildlife encroachment in the forests, land use changes, and rural out-migration are worsening the subsistence production system. The constant destruction of crops, livestock raids, and night disruptions when guarding their farms not only ruin their financial stability but also their emotional health. The gendered implications of such effects are also highlighted (as in the fact that it is men who bear the physical risks of field protection, and women who bear the emotional stress of field protection, changing homes, and food insecurity that follows). Although community initiatives and a few government interventions offer some assistance, it is barely enough. The author tries to argue that HWC is not merely an environmental problem, but a social and gendered problem that needs more practical and extensive policy responses.