Pygmy populations occupy a vast territory extending west-to-east along the central African belt from the Congo Basin to Lake Victoria. However, their numbers and actual distribution is not known precisely. Here, we undertake this task by using locational data and population sizes for an unprecedented number of known Pygmy camps and settlements (n = 654) in five of the nine countries where currently distributed. With these data we develop spatial distribution models based on the favourability function, which distinguish areas with favourable environmental conditions from those less suitable for Pygmy presence. Highly favourable areas were significantly explained by presence of tropical forests, and by lower human pressure variables. For documented Pygmy settlements, we use the relationship between observed population sizes and predicted favourability values to estimate the total Pygmy population throughout Central Africa. We estimate that around 920,000 Pygmies (over 60% in DRC) is possible within favourable forest areas in Central Africa. We argue that fragmentation of the existing Pygmy populations, alongside pressure from extractive industries and sometimes conflict with conservation areas, endanger their future. There is an urgent need to inform policies that can mitigate against future external threats to these indigenous peoples’ culture and lifestyles.

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Human-elephant conflict (HEC) poses a serious problem in Africa for both local livelihoods and elephant conservation. Elephant damage is the price local people pay for coexisting with this species, and is assumed to reduce tolerance for elephants. However, conservation-related projects, through the benefits they offer may enhance local tolerance toward elephants. This study aimed to examine how crop damage by elephants and the benefits gained from conservation activities affect local people’s tolerance toward elephants around Moukalaba-Doudou National Park in southwest Gabon based on long-term ethnographic research and interview surveys in two periods (2010 and 2019). Based on the results, crop damage by elephants had a significant negative impact on the local social economy, leading to a decrease in human population in the area and making local people highly resentful of elephants. However, in one of the villages where employment from research and conservation activities was concentrated, many acknowledged the benefits associated with wildlife and expressed high tolerance for elephants. These findings suggest that benefits from conservation activities can increase tolerance toward elephants, which is negatively affected by the crop damage they cause. However, it should also be noted that externally generated projects have limitations and drawbacks. It is important to establish a system in which the benefits of conservation are shared widely and distributed appropriately, and wherein income resources are diversified. Multisectoral interventions focusing on local socio-ecological vulnerability are needed to mitigate human-elephant conflict and advance the conservation of African elephants.

It is important for the development of conservation projects to establish collaborative relationships with local populations, and for that, a detailed understanding of local lifestyles is required. In particular, basic information on local people's natural resource utilization is essential. In this article, the authors analyzed livelihoods in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park (MDNP), southwestern Gabon based on quantitative data obtained from long-term field research. It was shown that people inhabiting the area around the MDNP depend heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods and they produced sufficient food within the region. However, it was also shown that the variety of food items was poor compared with other protected area in Africa and the nutritional status is presumed to have been inadequate. When compared with the data before the establishment of the National Park in 2002, consumption of bush meat decreased remarkably whereas that of fish only slightly increased after ten years. It is supposed that the people around the MDNP have converted their lifestyles flexibly to coexist with the conservation projects in a part, but it is also the fact that conservation practices threaten local livelihoods to some extent.