Unsure how interpret the results of Spearman’s rank. My p-value is <0.05, but $\rho$ is close to zero so no correlation? data:  conflict$Livestock_density and conflict$Forest_density
S = 1e+08, p-value = 0.04
alternative hypothesis: true rho is not equal to 0
sample estimates:
rho 
-0.0694 

Does $\hat{\rho} = -0.0694$ mean I should interpret test as not providing evidence of association, even though I  have a low p-value?

Your test results provide evidence of a small monotonic association at the $\alpha = 0.05$ level.
