Developing a spatially-explicit, sustainable and risk-based insurance scheme to mitigate human–wildlife conflict

Insurance may encourage coexistence between farmers and wildlife by reimbursing farmers’ losses. China introduced an insurance scheme to mitigate human–elephant conflict in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan Province, where elephants cause damage to rubber plantations. However, recent experience has suggested that the present insurance system exhibits poor performance related to funding shortfalls, undervaluing of plantations and insufficient payouts, and by limiting community involvement. To address these shortcomings we conducted attitude surveys with farmers, and developed an actuarial (risk-based) insurance model for rubber loss that incorporated spatially-explicit risk of depredation and net present value of rubber at damage, in order to calculate fair payouts at village and town levels for the year 2011. Farmers were largely dissatisfied with the current insurance system, and their level of satisfaction was associated with the compensation ratio (percentage of lost rubber reimbursed by insurance). The illustrative results based on 2011 rubber loss data revealed high variability in risk and therefore payouts (and further, premiums) and that fair insurance payouts would be approximately five times the current levels. To improve compensation and support long-term program sustainability, we considered an insurance cost-sharing mechanism that incorporated shared payments from government, rubber farmers, and Chinese tourists. We found that multiple stakeholders were willing to pay for elephant conservation, which could make significant contributions to insurance premiums over the long term. Importantly, this proposed insurance model could be broadly applicable to livestock and long-lived cash crop compensation systems.