A roundtable of local decision makers focuses on elephant conservation in the Pendjari Park (Benin)

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Agence Benin Presse

Date Published
Natitingou, February 19 (ABP)—In order to ensure the conservation of elephants, officials of Pendjari Park held Thursday in the conference room of the Prefecture of Natitingou, a round table that brought together local decision makers.
This workshop follows a series of participatory scientific research activities in and around the Biosphere Reserve of Pendjari with funding from the African Wildlife Fundation (AWF).
The consultant, Djagoun Scots, returned the work focused on the occurrence and distribution of elephants in the park Pendjari and human-elephant conflicts around the reserve.
The results: Pendjari currently has the largest population of elephants in West Africa is retained in the presentation. This population is subject to poaching pressures and reduction of habitat by the advance of the agricultural frontier. The human-elephant conflict have greater occurrence in the rainy season without it being zero in the dry season. Areas Batia and Porga are most affected by the damage elephants on crops with the lack at the management of a functional mechanism compensation structures.
Participants at the workshop also contributed by developing strong recommendations for the development of an elephant conservation program.
Among these, support for monitoring, ecological monitoring elephants, the involvement of the mayors of neighboring municipalities and pasture management.
Finally, the director of the National Park of Pendjari, Méryas Kouton, said that all the recommendations will be donated to the results of research work and presented to the AWF partners for funding.