Sharjah24 - Reuters: Forest elephants are smaller than their cousins on the African savannah, but in Gabon their destructive raids of farmers' fields is having on outsized impact on support for the government and its conservation agenda.
With over 10% of its land protected in national parks, Gabon has become the main stronghold in central Africa for critically endangered forest elephants, whose relative abundance and marauding habits are undermining efforts to protect them there, authorities and scientists warn.
The long-standing conflict has become markedly more acute in the past few years - 2021 saw the most widespread anti-elephant protests so far by farmers across Gabon, according to the environment ministry.
"Some people cannot farm anymore - the elephants are eating so much of their crops," Environment Minister Lee White told Reuters. "It has become a political issue and is eroding support for conservation and for the president (and) government."
Just outside the capital Libreville, splintered tree-trunks, trampled undergrowth and churned-up earth mark where an elephant strolled through the forest.
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