Farmers’ experiences of mobile electric fences for human–elephant coexistence 

Authors: Katarzyna Mikołajczak, Christian Mikolo Yobo, Eric Chehoski, Claudel Tshibangu and Maurice Schutgens

Human–elephant conflict is a common problem in places where human activities and elephant habitats overlap, posing a serious threat to livelihoods and elephant conservation. In Gabon, the growing intensity of these conflicts in recent years has made it a key political issue.

In 2022, Space for Giants, an international conservation non-governmental organisation, in support of the Ministry of Water, Forests, the Sea and the Environment, introduced a national mobile electric fencing programme to protect farmers from crop devastation by elephants.

This report outlines the findings from our study of farmers’ experiences with Gabon’s mobile electric fencing programme. It also provides recommendations aimed at reducing the programme’s chance of failure and promoting a more sustainable and harmonious relationship between humans and forest elephants.

Key messages

• Mobile electric fences offer a potential solution to the problem of human–elephant conflict, but local uptake and the long-term success of such fences are not guaranteed. This requires careful consideration of the local context and the needs and perspectives of the farmers that use them.
• The authors assessed a mobile electric fencing programme in Gabon, where rural communities face crop damage from elephants, using the innovative tools of service design and behavioural insights to explore how the intervention can work well and the challenges that arise.
• The study finds overwhelmingly positive experiences from participating farmers due to the efficacy of fences in deterring the elephants and their compatibility with farmers’ needs and agricultural practices.
• Factors contributing to the programme’s success include effective fence design and behaviour change techniques that motivate upkeep. These include ongoing support from Space for Giants, the non-governmental organisation responsible for implementation, and the requirement to adequately maintain fences for a year before gaining ownership.
• The greatest challenge encountered by farmers is the tension and lack of cooperation around fence maintenance among groups of farmers that use fences collectively.
• In the long term, the programme may become vulnerable to systemic challenges around human and elephant behaviour. As elephants learn to breach the current fence models, new designs will have to be more complex and possibly fixed to a single location. This would require traditional ‘shifting’ agricultural practices to be replaced with sedentary methods, which could conflict with traditional land governance systems.

Recommendations for practitioners

• To maintain local trust and engagement in the mobile electric fencing programme as it expands, it is critical that farmers continue to receive sufficient training and technical support.
• The programme’s effectiveness and inclusivity could be improved through expanded outreach, awareness-raising and communication efforts, such as disseminating key information and reminders on correct procedures for operating fences, providing materials and training in the local languages, and encouraging greater engagement by women.
• The programme should continue to provide fences to individual users while restricting the option of shared fences to associations or informal groups that have a track record of successful cooperation.
• Further innovation is needed to improve the safety of fences and reduce efforts required for their ongoing maintenance. 
• People living in communities that share space with elephants should be thoroughly engaged in constructing visions and pathways to peaceful coexistence.
• An inclusive strategy for long-term human–elephant coexistence should account for behavioural and cultural factors such as cultural norms, preferences and traditional practices.
• Any behaviour change campaigns required, such as for the adoption of sedentary farming techniques, should be aligned with the needs and motivations of the target audience.