People - Dr Matt Walpole

Tel: +44 (0)1227 824097

Fax: +44 (0)1227 827289

E-mail: Matt.Walpolefauna-flora.org

CV

1998 - Postdoctoral Research Associate and Darwin Initiative Fellow, DICE.
1994 - 97 Postgraduate Research Assistant and PhD Student, DICE.
1994 Postgraduate Research Assistant, Dept of Zoology, University of Cambridge.
1990 - 93 BSc (Hons). Zoology, Clare College, University of Cambridge.

Research Interests

Over the past ten years I have developed a variety of multidisciplinary research, training, project management and consultancy activities in Africa and Asia. My work focuses on the interface between people and wildlife, both within and outside protected areas. I am particularly interested in applying research to develop solutions to human-wildlife conflict. This is a broad field encompassing animal ecology and behaviour, landscape ecology, economics and sociology. Two of my major interests are the role of nature-based tourism as a tool for conservation and development, and the use of GIS and spatial statistics for research and planning.

My doctoral research at DICE was a case study of the ecological, economic and social impacts of nature-based tourism in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Of particular interest was the extent to which tourism based on the Komodo Dragon Varanus komodoensis, a conservation flagship species, contributed to the conservation of the park and to the local communities within and surrounding the park. Activities included the development of rapid multi-disciplinary survey tools, market research, stakeholder planning and developing stakeholder guidelines for nature-based tourism. The work was funded by the ODA (now DfID) as part of a broader comparative study that included sites in India and Zimbabwe. This progressed into further DfID-funded collaborative research in The Gambia with the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at the University of Greenwich.

Since 1998 my work has focused on the Masai Mara National Reserve and surrounding Maasai communities in Kenya. With major funding from the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species and WWF, this work has continued to explore the impacts and management of tourism inside the reserve, whilst more recently examining the opportunities and constraints for local communities attempting to develop alternative community-based tourism. In addition the project has focused in more detail on the direct interactions between people and wildlife, including pastoral impacts on the endangered black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis and crop raiding by African elephants Loxodonta africana. In collaboration with Dr Bob Smith, we have developed a GIS-based analytical tool for exploring the spatial attributes of conflict that is being applied in a variety of contexts.

My current work is extending the human-wildlife conflict research to (a) test practical methods for mitigating elephant crop raiding, and (b) encompass livestock predation by carnivores such as African wild dog Lycaon pictus. Working closely with teams of trained community scouts, we are able to construct a comprehensive database of conflict that can be related to wildlife and human distribution and biophysical attributes in both space and time. This is vital for understanding conflict and evaluating the success of practical interventions. In Kenya we are working closely with Kenya Wildlife Service, Friends of Conservation, WWF-EARPO and the IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group.

Teaching

I have taught on the DICE MSc and undergraduate modules on Tourism and Conservation. In addition, I have developed diploma and distance learning courses in ecotourism planning and management for the University of Greenwich and the African College of Wildlife Management at Mweka, Tanzania.

Selected Publications (click here for full list)

Sitati, N.W., Walpole, M.J., Smith, R.J. & Leader-Williams, N. (2003). Predicting spatial aspects of human-elephant conflict. Journal of Applied Ecology 40, 667-677.

Walpole, M.J. & Leader-Williams, N. (2002). Ecotourism and flagship species in conservation. Biodiversity & Conservation 11, 543-47.

Walpole, M.J. & Leader-Williams, N. (2001). Masai Mara tourism reveals partnership benefits. Nature 413, 771.

Walpole, M.J., Morgan-Davies, M., Milledge, S., Bett, P. & Leader-Williams, N. (2001). Population dynamics and future conservation of a free-ranging black rhinoceros population in Kenya. Biological Conservation 99(2), 237-43.

Walpole, M.J., Goodwin, H.J., & Ward, K.G.R. (2001). Pricing policy for tourism in protected areas: lessons from Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Conservation Biology 15, 218-27.