Gabon to Pay $5 Million to Victims of Elephants’ Destruction
Chief Bisong Etahoben, Human Angle Media
June 1, 2022
See link
https://humanglemedia.com/gabon-to-pay-5-million-to-victims-of-elephants-destruction/
for photo.
The government of Gabon has provided five million US dollars in its 2022
budget as compensation for victims, especially farmers whose crops were
destroyed by elephants.
Lee White, Gabonese Minister of Water and Forestry, announced the provision
on Monday, May 30, while responding to allegations that he was more
preoccupied with defending elephants than human beings whose means of
livelihood the elephants have been destroying.
“The human-elephant conflict is very complex, and scientists have
discovered that in the Lope National Park, the production of fruits has
dropped by 80 per cent because the temperature has risen by 1 degree
Celcius in less than 40 years, and rainfall has dropped. As a result, the
elephants are hungry and leave the forest searching for fruits,” the
minister explained.
He said rather than kill the marauding elephants; the government would
consider building electronic barriers and other methods to prevent the
elephants from invading farmlands.
The minister said the government recognises the absolute necessity to
“protect the means of subsistence of people, their security and their
standard of living”.
He said it was not true when people accused him and the government of
taking sides with elephants against humans.
“This is not true, and we must look at the problem globally,” he said.
“In the past, we did not have a budget to compensate victims of the
conflict between man and elephants. But, this year, we have included five
million US dollars, the equivalent of 3,046,536,400 FCFA, in the national
budget for the purpose.”
The conflict between humans and elephants has become a serious national
problem in Gabon as agricultural parcels of land are regularly devastated
by elephants to the detriment of the national population.
Accusing the government of “protecting animals in place of humans”, several
movements and associations have been formed in Mekambo and Fougamou to
fight for the interests of humans against elephant destruction.
https://humanglemedia.com/gabon-to-pay-5-million-to-victims-of-elephants-destruction/