Several wildlife species, NaijaAgroNet gathered may cause significant damage to crops and livestock systems,
threatening peoples' food security, safety and well-being, which experts see as
in extreme cases, attacks by wildlife species such as elephants and crocodiles
can cause human injuries and death.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation latest publication
with focus on wildlife, noted that human-wildlife conflicts have become more
frequent and severe particularly in Africa, due to increasing competition for
land in previously wild and uninhabited areas.
“This is often the result of human population
growth, increasing demand for natural resources, and growing pressure for
access to land, such as expansion of transport routes, agriculture and
industries,” part of the report read.
NaijaAgroNet
reports that more specifically, the publication stressed that in central and
southern Africa, wildlife and people will continue to share landscapes and
resources with conflicts likely to worsen unless actions are taken.
In this regard, FAO said that the French Agricultural
Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and other
partners developed the first Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC)
toolbox, which has helped a local community in Gabon's Cristal Mount
National Park.
The report further noted that local farmers in
this area were particularly frustrated by the fact that animals such as cane
rats, roan antelopes, bush pigs and elephants, were destroying their entire
crops, and thus threatening their livelihoods. At the same time, laws
prohibited these farmers from taking action by hunting the protected animals
either for meat or to protect their crops.
However, the solutions offered by the toolkit
included fencing the plantations to block animals from reaching the crops,
lighting fires or making noises to scare the animals away, and posting guards
to keep watch on plantations at night - measures that were relatively easy and
inexpensive to implement.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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