Impact of Anti-poaching Strategies on Wildlife Conservation in Protected Areas, Case of Akagera National Park

Abstract

The poaching activities cause significant loss of biodiversity mainly due to lack of awareness on the importance of biodiversity protection. This study aimed to investigate the impact of anti-poaching strategies on the conservation of wildlife in protected areas. The case study was the Akagera National Park (ANP) in the Eastern Rwanda and covered a period of five years (2013-2017). The authors utilized structured and semi-structured questionnaires for data collection. The respondents were the park staff working in conservation, local leaders, cooperatives and clubs dedicated to conservation of natural resources. The mean and standard deviation were used to analyze conservation measures applied at the park. The T-test and Regression analysis assessed the extent to which the community-based strategies helped on the park’s conservation and the relationship between both. The results were analysed by employing the SPSS, Version 20. The results indicated that anti-poaching strategies reduced the number of poachers, animal loss and farmers’ intrusion into the park. This was with a strong mean of 4.27695 and standard deviation of .52679. The relationship between anti-poaching and wildlife conservation showed a significant level of 0.01 and strong correlation of .976 (p-value=0.00). The coefficient of determination was 0.000 and generated a positive relationship (.314) between anti-poaching strategies and wildlife conservation. Therefore, the applied anti-poaching strategies potentially reduced of all sorts of poaching at ANP. This increased the biodiversity within the park and enhanced the wellbeing of the surrounding communities since they are engaged in and benefit from the protection schedule.