By Supaphen Sripiboon, Pierre Echaubard, Anawat Sangmalee, Nikhorn Thongtip and Michel de Garine-Wichatitsky.

KEY MESSAGES

There have been drastic changes in wildlife-livestock-human interfaces over the past decades.

This lead to an increase in human-wildlife conflicts and important health consequences for humans, livestock and wildlife.

Currently the issues in interface areas are addressed independently by different government departments. Local farmers are key players in interface areas but are not associated in the monitoring and management decisions. Only emergency response to wildlife disease outbreaks is jointly addressed and there is insufficient coordination between departments to jointly carry out surveillance and management outside outbreak situations.

We recommend the establishment of Joint Operational Management Units (JOMUs) as a tool for integrated and perennial monitoring and management of interfaces areas.

We suggest that provincial decision makers should revise the current rules and regulations regarding access to protected areas and information sharing, and allocate appropriate human and financial resources for JOMUs.

GLOSSARY

DLD: Dept. of Livestock Development
DNP: Dept. of National Parks, Wildlife & Plant Conservation
FEVT: Field Epidemiology Veterinarian Team
JOMU: Joint Operational Management Unit
MoPH: Ministry of Public Health
NGOs: Non-Government Organizations
RTA: Royal Thai Army
RTP: Royal Thai Police