Human-Wildlife Conflict
As human populations continue to expand into wilderness areas, and as we successfully conserve healthy wildlife populations, the needs of people and the needs of wildlife will increasingly come into contact and potentially create conflicts.
In Congo this human-animal conflict has occurred as forest elephants move increasingly closer to villages, often as a result of increased levels of protection and a reduction in poaching for ivory. However, elephants frequently enter fields and damage crops. Elephant crop damage is now a significant issue in the buffer zone of both the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park and the Conkouati-Douli National Park, requiring WCS-Congo staff to test ever-more innovative methods to try and resolve the conflict and maintain local support for conservation whilst preserving local livelihoods of farmers.