Human-tiger conflict in context: risks to lives and livelihoods in the Bangladesh Sundarbans

Inskip and colleagues used household surveys across villages bordering the Bangladesh Sundarbans to document the full burden of human-tiger conflict, encompassing fatal and nonfatal attacks on people, livestock depredation, and the fear and economic insecurity facing forest-resource-dependent households. They mapped where and to whom risk fell most heavily, finding that the poorest, most forest-dependent people, honey collectors and fishers, bore disproportionate danger. The study emphasised situating attacks within livelihoods and vulnerability rather than treating them as isolated wildlife events. It informed conflict-mitigation planning by clarifying who is exposed, why, and which interventions might reduce both predation and the desperation that drives risky forest entry.