Human-elephant conflict: 2 billion FCFA to compensate the victims (Gabon)

Author(s)

Stevie Mounombou, Gabon Review

Date Published

Translated from the French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for the French original.

See link for photo.

The Minister of Forestry has just announced that a grant of 2 billion CFA francs was adopted in the initial 2022 finance law, to compensate the victims of the human-elephant conflict across the country. A national meeting will take place at the end of November to determine an effective strategy for spending the allocated funds, underlined Lee White.

Ali Bongo’s country is taking a giant step forward in the management of the human-wildlife conflict. In an interview with the Gabonese Press Agency (AGP), the Minister of Forestry announced that a grant of 2 billion CFA francs was adopted in the initial 2022 finance law, to compensate the victims of the human-elephant conflict across the country.

“It is a budget that will be managed at the level of the Ministry of the Budget. Our role with the Ministry of Agriculture will be to go and inventory the damage on the ground and it is a strategic choice to have separated the auditor and the financier, to avoid fraud. Compensation systems all over the world are still revealing cases of cheating,” explained Lee White. 

 
According to the member of the government, a national meeting will take place at the end of November to establish an effective strategy for spending the allocated funds.

Human-wildlife conflicts correspond to a situation where the activities of human groups and wildlife compete, disrupting in different ways and to different degrees of intensity, the living conditions of both parties. 

 
The member of the government had announced in December 2020, a budget line of one billion to densify the construction of electric barriers in 2021, “to mitigate and ensure food security for more people”.

https://www.gabonreview.com/conflit-homme-elephant-2-milliards-fcfa-pour-indemniser-les-victimes/