Translated from French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for original. Thank you to Anne Dillon for finding and doing the online translating.
—
France will release 18 million euros (11 billion FCFA) to fund the preservation of Gabon’s biodiversity. The agreement was signed Saturday in Libreville, between the French Secretary of State for development, and Annick Girardin Gabonese Minister of Economy, Regis Immongault, of the New York Forum Africa (NYFA).
For the Gabonese Minister, this agreement constitutes a contribution to the efforts undertaken by the government in its environmental preservation policy. This funding will not only fight against poaching, but also will help persons whose crops have been devastated by elephants, a species totally protected in Gabon.
According to Mr. Immongault, part of this amount will be drawn from the debt restructuring fund of Gabon to France, stating further that EUR 10 million of the 18 million is already available.
Elephant poaching is a phenomenon that the Gabonese authorities decided to eradicate.
Gabon, which hosts more than half of the African forest elephant has become a new target for poachers networks with the massacre of around 20,000 elephants in 10 years (2001–2011), says the National Agency of National Parks (ANPN).
—