African lion conservation requires adaption to regional anthropogenic threats and mitigation capacity

Lion populations are declining rapidly throughout their range in Africa due to either indirect threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation or more direct threats such as targeted poaching for body parts and illegal wildlife trade. Conservation strategies and resource deployment around mitigation requires a comparable understanding of regional threat typology and severity, as well as an assessment of available resources for intervention. To inform such species-level planning, an online survey conducted with experienced landscape managers and lion researchers representing 132 subpopulations across Africa was used to develop standardised perceived threat severity and resource availability indices for comparison with biogeographic, socio-economic, and mitigation covariates. Lion subpopulations were perceived to be either increasing (38 %) or stable (37 %) over the last five years, with some decreasing (17 %) and several unknown (8 %) trends. Perceived threat severity differed significantly by region (i.e., highest in central and lowest in southern Africa) and country (i.e., highest in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Ethiopia, while Rwanda, South Africa and Namibia were lowest). Further significant differences in the total threat index were related to variables such as communities living within the lion habitat, livestock grazing within the area, livestock competition with wildlife, as well as the level of fencing, community engagement and management resources. Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Ethiopia had the highest perceived threat severity indices, while Rwanda, South Africa and Namibia had the lowest threat severity. The most severe threats varied significantly across regions and countries. Lack of funding, human encroachment, and loss of prey base emerged as severe local threats, while climate change was identified as the most severe global threat. Perceived resource availability was highest in Rwanda, Chad and Benin and lowest in six countries including Angola, Burkina Faso, Niger, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. The perceived threats facing lion conservation in Africa vary with context, highlighting the need for tailored conservation strategies.