Burkina Faso's Nature Reserves Are Worth Protecting But People Have To Be Part Of The Plan

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Burkina Faso is a west African dryland country known for its diverse ecosystems, including savannas, forests and wetlands. Large herbivores like elephant, giraffe and hippopotamus, and predators like lions, leopards and the African lynx, roam the country's savannas. Many bird species use the country as a stopover or wintering ground , making it an important migratory route between Europe and Africa.

Nature reserves as protected areas cover 14% of the country's land. They are surrounded by heavily populated areas. Demand for food, fuelwood and land to settle on has stimulated agricultural activity, grazing and woodcutting near these protected areas.

Read more: Burkina Faso study shows link between land degradation and migration

As part of my PhD research, I investigated the changing use of the land between 2000 and 2022 in one of Burkina Faso's key wildlife reserves, the Bontioli nature reserve.

Located in the south-west region in Burkina Faso, the reserve covers over 46,000 hectares. A third of it is a strict nature reserve where humans have limited access. The other two-thirds of Bontioli is a partial reserve , where some species are protected but which the local community can still draw on as a source of food and medicinal plants.

We used satellite images from NASA and the United States government Earth Explorer and human population data to find out how the land cover (trees, grass and shrubs) had changed between 2000 and 2022.

My research found that this protected area had lost 27.6% of its forests and trees, and 4.5% of its shrub savanna, because of human activity. During the same 22 year period, the crops planted by humans took over a further 26.3% of the protected area.

Read more: What Cameroon can teach others about managing community forests

The changes to the land cover of the Bontioli reserve are largely linked to the surrounding human population growth and density. My research found that there was a lack of local community involvement in managing the protected area. If they'd been involved, the local population could have helped conserve the natural reserve.

In future, people who manage natural reserves must remember that the size of local communities will keep growing. This must be factored into planning so that protected areas can be managed sustainably to provide for people, wildlife and ecosystems.

Smallholder rainfed farming of millet, red and white sorghum, maize and rice dominates the country's agriculture. Low land productivity has led farmers to expand their farms onto land in natural reserves.

Protected areas in Burkina Faso are also threatened by illicit activities such as logging, mining and poaching.

These threats are mainly caused by human population growth, urbanisation and climate change. For example, the data I collected shows that an additional 13,310 people moved into the Bontioli reserve between 2000 and 2022.

The more the population increases, the more the vegetation decreases. The population increase in the Bontioli natural reserve led to deforestation. Farming also led to wildfires, after natural vegetation was cleared and the dead wood set alight.

Conservationists and local government must collaborate with local communities to find the best way to protect the Bontioli reserve. The methods must be decided by everyone who uses the natural resources of the reserve. It is crucial for conservation authorities and the government to respect that local people need to earn a living from the land.

For instance, most of the households who have moved into the reserve were attracted by the abundance of trees and other natural resources in the reserve. This is because they still use wood and charcoal as an energy source. But cutting down vegetation for fuelwood has decreased the reserve's vegetation by 32.1% in two decades.

Several global projects have useful lessons for Bontioli. Local government authorities and conservation organisations must regulate land use more strictly. For example, Costa Rica's Payment for Ecosystem Services programme pays people to plant trees, along with crops, to prevent deforestation.

Promoting sustainable agricultural practices such as agroforestry and controlled grazing, similar to Namibia's Community-based Natural Resource Management , is very important. This programme aims to ensure that smallholder farmers who need land for crops can work with conservationists.

The Great Green Wall in Africa's Sahel region combats desertification through large-scale reforestation. This could also serve as a model for reforestation projects within the reserve.

Read more: Africa's Great Green Wall will only combat desertification and poverty by harnessing local solutions

Conservation actions such as awareness campaigns and participatory activities among local populations can help restore Bontioli natural reserve. This has been done successfully in Tanzania's Ngorongoro conservation area. This project integrates local population activities with wildlife conservation that supports both pastoralist communities and biodiversity protection through controlling the use of land.

For example, the government could fence off parts of the reserve for livestock to graze on, while protecting the rest of the reserve from farm animals.

Engaging local communities through education about the benefits of conservation, and adapting conservation strategies to local conditions, are essential for the success of these initiatives.

To achieve all this, the government and conservation authorities need to recognise local communities as natural resource users, and consult them on how best to manage the Bontioli reserve.

International funding and public-private partnerships are needed to bring in the funds for long term conservation efforts. These efforts could contribute towards the achievement of the United Nations' sustainable development goal 15 to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of ecosystems.

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