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Conservation Solutions Where People and Wildlife Meet: Mozambique's Other War
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To repel elephants that might damage crops, Mozambicans slather a chili pepper mixture on ropes strung around their fields.
photo: WWF-Canon / Lyn Treloar |
Although a long and bitter civil war is well behind them, Mozambican farmers continue to battle another foe-elephants that trample their fields at night, foraging for food. Both sides have suffered casualties in this ongoing conflict, but a sign of peace is now at hand-a sign not in the form of a dove or an olive branch, but a chili pepper.
Elephants, it seems, don't like spicy foods-a revelation that has helped WWF staff in Mozambique's Quirimbas National Park to mitigate a conflict threatening both human and elephant inhabitants. Cordoning off fields with ropes soaked in a mixture of oil and chili peppers helps keep the elephants at bay without harm to either man or beast. "With our help, the communities are now growing chili plants as a deterrent," says Kate Newman, who oversees WWF support to Quirimbas. "It's a practical and effective way of helping people and elephants to coexist in the wild."
Helping people live in harmony with nature is also the most effective way of practicing conservation. "Simply throwing up a fence and telling people 'you can't go there' rarely works. It only encourages resentment and activities like poaching," adds Newman. "To get people to work for conservation, you've got to make conservation work for people."
Read more about this creative solution to human-elephant conflict.
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