Among the world’s greatest phenomena are wildlife’s large-scale migrations. However, these are under increased pressure and efforts to avert their potential loss are urgent but challenging. The migratory nature of these species places them under different jurisdictional frameworks (Bauer & Hoye, 2014). This is of concern because migratory species are long-lived and, for the most part, are listed as Threatened (Heppell, 1998). Conserving migratory species contributes to the maintenance of key ecological functions and to safeguard the natural assets that provide supplementary sources of income to people. This is especially important in developing countries, where people are greatly dependent on the direct use of natural resources and alternative economic opportunities (Harris et al. 2018). Protective measures and large-scale economic opportunities (e.g., coastal and marine development, oil and gas exploitation) can potentially result in economic and social costs to the people, by redefining ownership, access rights and resource use, if not planned accordingly. Consequently, there is a pressing challenge to integrate people’s needs within protective measures (Ban et al., 2013).