Crop-raiding, also known as crop-foraging by wildlife, is a regularly occurring human-wildlife interaction (HWI), especially in the rural tropics. HWIs can lead to food insecurity and emotional damage, as well as threats to wildlife populations through retaliatory killing. Past scientific endeavors to mitigate negative outcomes of crop-foraging have often only approached HWIs from an ecological point of view, and many have focused solely on crop damage reduction. Such attempts have proven unsuccessful because this simplified, monodisciplinary understanding of interactions between people and crop-foragers ignores the complex drivers of perceived conflict with crop-foraging wildlife, such as human-human conflicts. Instead, HWIs must be examined through an interdisciplinary lens where the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities are integrated and traditional knowledge is valued appropriately. We can then move beyond standard solutions for mitigating negative outcomes of crop-foraging, such as technological innovations and educational training, and work towards transformative change that safeguards local food sources, conserves wildlife species and includes diverse knowledge systems. To achieve this, cooperation is needed between scientists, people with lived experiences concerning crop-foraging, NGOs and governmental institutions.

This symposium aims to contribute to an interdisciplinary approach to study crop-foraging by connecting scientists and practitioners from different bioregions and disciplines, in order to acquire new conceptual insights, as well as identify opportunities for transformative change in research methods and implementation. We will showcase projects that are trying to integrate different knowledge systems and methodologies and we aim to uncover both ecological and social drivers of HWIs, including an investigation into people's perceptions of crop-foragers. This is crucial, since perceptions determine whether crop-foraging is deemed a conflict. Discussions will reflect on lessons learned from various stages of HWI research, including integrating scientific disciplines, intercultural communications, and keys to sustainable mitigation measures, in order to simultaneously work towards food security and wildlife conservation.