Human-elephant conflict: Soon software to measure pachyderm damage (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 Water and Forests visited a village near Kango, the capital of komo department, on 7 February, as part of the monitoring of the management of the human-elephant conflict. 

 
On this occasion, Lee White announced the upcoming deployment of software capable of accurately and efficiently mapping plantations and all the damage caused by elephants.

A national phenomenon, the human-elephant conflict is a concern of the government. As part of the mitigation program and monitoring the management of this conflict, the Minister of Water and Forests visited a village near Kango, capital of the Komo department, on February 7, to touch the damage caused by elephants and provide lasting solutions.

“We are here to find solutions to this growing phenomenon in our country. I came to meet a mother who grows bananas and whose plantation was destroyed by elephants,” said the Minister of Water and Forests.

“One of the solutions envisaged to remedy this problem, apart from the construction of electrical barriers adapted to the cultural practices of local communities, is to set up software that will allow us to accurately and efficiently map plantations and all the damage caused by elephants. This software will be deployed across Gabon and will allow better monitoring of victim compensation,” added Lee White.

At the end of the national conference on the management of the human-elephant conflict, in December 2021 in Libreville, the government provided, in the 2022 finance law, a budget envelope of 2 billion CFA francs to deal with this issue. To this end, a database has been set up to facilitate damage assessment and ensure transparency in the collection of information on the ground.

https://www.gabonreview.com/conflit-homme-elephant-bientot-un-logiciel-pour-mesurer-les-degats-des-pachydermes/