A historic milestone reached as 500 fences erected in a year to protect Gabonese farmers from forest elephants
The 500th fence was inaugurated today at a special ceremony attended by the Minister of Water and Forest and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Human-Wildlife Conflict. It marked the implementation by Space for Giants of one of the largest ever Human-Elephant Conflict initiatives rolled out in Africa over 12 months.
● International conservation NGO Space for Giants achieved its 2023 target of 500 mobile-electric fences in Gabon to address the issue of human-elephant conflict.
● Over 4,800 subsistence farmers in 35 out of 48 departments in the country benefit from fencing as a human-elephant conflict mitigation strategy.
● The solution is 95% effective in stopping elephant crop-raiding where introduced.
● Space for Giants and the Government of Gabon now rolling out the programme to additional districts while also providing maintenance for fences already provided.
Libreville, 2 February 2024 - In partnership with the Ministry of Water and Forests, Space for Giants is proud to announce the achievement of its 2023 annual target of 500 mobile electric fences (MEF) installations, benefitting 4,815 people throughout nine provinces in Gabon.
This marks a significant step forward in mitigating human-elephant conflict in Gabon. Human-elephant conflict is a major challenge to the Gabonese, who are largely subsistence farmers living alongside the endangered African forest elephants.
The official inauguration of the 500th mobile electric fence was held today on the outskirts of Kango in the Estuaire province. It was attended by Maurice Ntossui Allogo, the Minister of Water and Forests, and key partners and members of the local community. The ceremony highlighted the viability of mobile electric fencing in securing food security for rural communities and announced scaling the program in 2024.
‘‘The Human-Wildlife Conflict, and more specifically the Human-Elephant Conflict, has been growing at a phenomenal rate for over a decade, and is contributing to the increasing impoverishment of rural populations who make their living from agriculture, while at the same time exposing them to the risks associated with the presence of elephants in the vicinity of their villages. The inauguration of the 500th mobile electric fence is the result of positive feedback from the beneficiaries. This encourages the government to continue in this vein.’’ said Maurice Ntossui Allogo, Minister of Water and Forest.
As the program continues into 2024, Space for Giants, as a technical partner alongside the government of the Gabonese Republic, looks to the future and encourages an inclusive, multi-sectoral approach to overcoming this conflict in the years to come.
Eric Chehoski, Space for Giants Country Director, Gabon, said: ‘‘Space for Giants congratulates the Ministry of Water and Forests, in charge of human-wildlife conflict, and financial partners in this important engagement to protect Gabonese farmers and the forest elephant. We installed 500 mobile electric fences in 2023 and will continue to roll out fences to protect affected farmers throughout 2024. The demand is strong. There is a real cry of distress on a national scale because of human-elephant conflict. Fences need to be part of a multi-sector effort to improve agriculture and the economy of rural Gabonese. Our goal is food security and actively participating in these rural communities’ social and economic development. This is the best way to guarantee the protection of the critically endangered Forest Elephant.”
In order to strategically distribute mobile electric fencing throughout the country, Space for Giants set up four bases in 2023 in four of the nine provinces: Haut-Ogooué, Ngounié, Ogooué-Ivindo and Ogooué-Maritime. These bases carried out three-pronged missions, reinforced by the team of itinerant missions in charge of improving fencing technology, focusing on the maintenance and monitoring of the proper functioning of electric fences, the training of beneficiaries in the use of this repellent device and the training of partners. While Space for Giant Gabon plans to reach 1,000 fences in December 2024, the program will emphasize the fence maintenance system and the appropriation of the system by the beneficiaries.
The local communities warmly welcomed the initiative. Gabon is the largest refuge of African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), with an estimated 95,000 individuals. However, it is also the only country in the world dealing with human-elephant conflict on a national scale, with elephants present in 47 out of 48 administrative departments. Electric fencing has proven to be the only effective mitigation technique outside of administrative slaughtering in Gabon. As a result, the government of the Gabonese Republic, through its Ministry of Water and Forest and its technical partner Space for Giants, initiated the mobile electric fencing program to address the national crisis.
Nadia Moussavou, Beneficiary in Kafélé village, Estuaire province, said: “For almost eight years, we fought elephants. There were moments when you could hear them lurking behind the house. Every night, the routine was to rise from sleep to bang on the cans and barrels. They wreaked havoc on our crops, and we struggled to replant what they destroyed. But since the electric fence was installed, the situation has changed. Now, we can consume all that we harvest. We plant and sell, and It aids us in providing for our children.”
The mobile electric fencing program is funded by Perenco, TotalEnergies, and Maurel and Prom. It has also received funding in the pilot phase from Assala Upstream, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Vaalco, the Elephant Crisis Fund, the Elephant Cooperation, and The Nature Conservancy.
