Research overview: poverty, vulnerability, and the unequal burden of conflict

This overview examines how poverty and social vulnerability concentrate the costs of big-cat conflict on those least able to bear them. It synthesises evidence that the poorest, most forest- or rangeland-dependent households face the greatest exposure to depredation and attacks, recover most slowly from losses, and are least served by compensation, while wealthier residents can buffer or avoid risk. The literature links this inequity to intolerance, retaliation, and conservation conflict, arguing that ignoring distributional impacts undermines both justice and effectiveness. The survey frames conflict as a development and equity issue as much as an ecological one, contending that durable coexistence requires reducing the disproportionate vulnerability of marginalised people sharing landscapes with predators.