1Note portant sur l’auteur*

Introduction

2Africa harbours a great variety of ecosystems and almost one-third of the biological diversity of the world (IUCN, 2005) but it is also the continent that suffers from the highest rates of poverty on the planet. In order to try to protect natural resources while ensuring the development of its people, the creation and management of protected areas is widely practised and recognized at the international level. It could even be said that the conservation of biodiversity in Africa depends in large part on the efficiency of systems of protected areas (Stuart et al., 1990). Nine papers have thus dealt with the issue of the management of protected areas in a number of countries in West and Central Africa. The authors, most of whom are responsible for the management of protected areas in their countries, discuss the situations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Niger (table I). These papers are summarized in this chapter which draws up a succinct assessment of the biodiversity and protected areas in the 7 countries concerned. The species richness protected by the parks and reserves are presented together with the different systems of management implemented in different countries. The factors in the degradation of these spaces are then analyzed, as well as the international or national measures that attempt to remedy them. Actions to be undertaken to improve the management of protected areas are proposed at the end. These contributions make it possible to summarize the main problems posed by the management of protected areas in West and Central Africa.

The biodiversity of the seven countries

General overview

3Although it is seriously endangered, the biodiversity of West and Central Africa remains significant and unusual. From South to North, the ecosystems of the coast, the forest, the mountains, the savannas, the grasslands and the deserts present distinct biocenoses. In the Congo river basin grows the second most important dense tropical moist forest of the world after the Amazon and it constitutes a high priority zone for the conservation of biological diversity (Doumenge, 1996 ; Stuart et al., 1990 ; Olson and Dinerstein, 1998 ; PFBC, 2005). The coasts of West Africa have some of the highest fish populations in the world (Thiaw, 2002) and the mangrove swamps that they harbour are exceptional. The Guinean forests of West Africa, which stretch from Guinea to the Sanaga river in Cameroon constitute one of the 25 high biological diversity zones in the world of as defined by Mittermeier et al. (1998). Even if they harbour fewer species than the central basin (Doumenge, 1996), these forests have a high rate of endemism and are important for the conservation of primates. Large African wildlife still subsist in certain sudan-type savannas and dry forests of the subregion. As for the Sahelian and Saharan biodiversity, it is distinctive for its adaptation to an extreme environment. Northern Niger is thus one of the last refuges for certain endangered species of large Sahelo-Saharan wildlife (Claro et al., these proceedings).

Ecoregions

4Ecoregions are defined as zones that represent distinct groupings of communities and species that closely resemble those that existed before the major changes in land use (Olson et al., 2001). The 7 countries referred to here harbour 21 terrestrial ecoregions (out of 867 for the entire planet) most of which belong to the Afrotropical region. Only the 3 Saharan ecoregions belong to the palearctic region. Map 1 presents these ecoregions and shows us the diversity of the ecosystems of the different countries.

5While Cameroon harbours eleven different terrestrial ecoregions, the six other countries have from three to six different terrestrial ecoregions. Only Niger, owing to its northern location, harbours Saharan ecoregions (photo. 1). There are twelve “global ecoregions” (terrestrial, marine and freshwater) defined by Olson and Dinerstein (1998) as priority areas for conservation in the seven countries (table II) (out of 238 for the entire world). Nine of them are found in Cameroon and three are found in the other countries.

Specific richness and endangered species

6The habitats with the highest specific richness in Africa are the moist tropical forests of the Guinea-Congo block and of Madagascar (Stuart et al., 1990). The specific richness in higher taxa and in known documented vertebrates in each of the seven countries as well as the numbers of endangered species that are found here provide interesting indicators for the comparison of the biodiversity of these countries (table III).

7These data confirm that the biodiversity of Cameroon is very high. This is explained by : the latitudinal extent of the country that includes several types of vegetation, from the tropical forest to the Sahelian grasslands, the position of Cameroon between West and East Africa, the presence of high, distinctly separate mountain ranges and a maritime coast that is 120 km long. This country is thus often described as “Africa in miniature”, due to the wide range of ecosystems that it shelters (Republic of Cameroon, 1999). Niger, on the other hand, has a relatively low number of species compared to its large area. This is due to the fact that the country is landlocked (thus without marine or coastal eco-systems) and that it is dominated by Sahelian and Saharan ecosystems where heavy environmental constraints require organisms with special adaptations that limit the number of species. In contrast, the position of Equatorial Guinea (a coastal country near the equator) and its mountainous relief makes this limited area relatively rich in species. The biodiversity of Benin, Ivory Coast and Guinea is average while Gambia has very few species, due to its very small area.

The protected areas of the seven countries

8The list of protected areas from category I to VI of the IUCN and the sites recognized at the international level of the seven countries are presented in the appendix.

Representativity of protected areas

9In principle, the function of protected areas in a country is to protect the unusual species and ecosystems of national territories. However, this is not always the case and the delimitation of protected areas has often been influenced more by socio-economic considerations than biological factors (Doumenge, 1996 ; Mengue-Medou, 2002). Certain ecosystems, ecoregions and species are thus poorly represented in the network of existing protected areas (Fournier and Millogo-Rasolodimby, these proceedings ; Guéneau and Jacobée, 2004), as has been demonstrated in Cameroon (Culverwell, 1997 ; Doumenge et al., 2001) and in Benin (Adomou et al., these proceedings). In addition, certain countries such as Gambia, have yet to identify their zones of high ecological value. This task has been carried out in six coastal countries of West Africa. This has made it possible to define 41 priority areas for the preservation of the biodiversity of forest ecosystems of Upper Guinea and to show that several of these areas are barely or not at all protected (Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, 2001). Doumenge et al. (2003) has in a similar way identified a network of “critical sites” for protection in the forests of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

10The parks and reserves however generally harbour an important portion of the biodiversity of countries. The national park of Taï in Ivory Coast, which is the oldest park in the moist tropical forest zone of West Africa (Oates, 2002), is heavily degraded (Tondoh and Miller, these proceedings) but is often described as “the only zone sufficiently vast that it can guarantee the survival of numerous animal and vegetal species that are native to this region” (Sayer et al., in Hadley, 1994). For example, it shelters more than 1 300 species of higher taxa of which 700 (54 %) are endemic to the ecosystems of the Guinea forests and 150 species are endemic to the Taï zone itself (Davis et al., 1994). It also contains 93 % of the species of mammals of the West African forest zone (totalling 140 species, 12 of which are native to Ivory Coast). Ngandjui and Blanc (2000) and Ngandjui (2003) also show that in Cameroon, 82.1 % of species of large and medium-sized mammals that are endangered are present in at least one protected area of the country. Another example is given by Nomao and Gautun (these proceedings) who show that park W harbours almost all the species of rodents existing in West Africa.

Extent and size of the network of protected areas

11The rates of protection (map 2) of national biodiversity in different countries depend on, among other things, the extent and distribution of the networks of protected areas in these countries (map 3).

12The configurations of the networks of protected areas (sizes, organizations, distributions…) are quite varied. These depend on several factors including the history of the country, national policy and the types of ecosystems that they harbour. Niger, which has a low number of protected areas in its territory, nevertheless has the largest reserve of this network, which is almost twice as large as that of Equatorial Guinea and Gambia together. The national nature Reserve of the Aïr and Tenere thus makes Niger the country with the largest single protected area (9.7 million ha) of all the seven countries. Cameroon also has a large area (7.2 million ha), but its protected areas are smaller, more numerous and more equitably distributed throughout its territory. The same is true with the networks of protected areas in Ivory Coast (5.5 million ha) and Benin (2.7 million ha). In these two countries, even if the parks of the Taï zone, the Comoé, the Pendjari and the W are extensive, the size of the network of protected areas is to a large extent due to the numerous national protected areas that are “not categorized” by the IUCN (mainly classified forests). The countries of the Gulf of Guinea also have a few coastal protected areas that are recognized at the international level. This is not the case for Guinea where in spite of the existence of a global network limited in area (in all 1.1 million ha), there are sizeable protected areas on the atlantic coast of the country. The small area of the Gambia partly explains the size of its network of protected areas which is not extensive (0.04 million ha), but Equatorial Guinea, which is also a small country, has a network almost 12 times more extensive (0.5 million ha).

13Four of the seven countries studied here have protection rates of national territory that are higher than average in the “West and Central Africa” region (8.7 % of the total exposed surface. Only 3 countries have protection rates that are higher than the world average (11.6), Benin has the highest rate, while Gambia is well below this rate.

The different types of protected areas

14Looking at the different types of protected areas in these seven countries of West Africa (table IV), it can be seen that once again there is great diversity among them.

15Only Equatorial Guinea has no protected area recognized by international statute. In contrast, Guinea benefits from a large number of humid zones of international importance. These correspond among others to the coastal sites referred to above as well as humid zones related to the river Niger. Concerning the national protected areas, their situations vary according to the country and the different types of protected areas are numerous. The only category represented in the all the countries is that of the national parks of which there are 28 throughout these seven countries. It is also mostly these national parks which have benefited from Unesco statutes (biosphere reserves and world heritage sites) Cameroon and Ivory Coast have created more national parks than all the other countries.

16While the nature and wildlife reserves are well represented, the scientific reserves, the natural monuments, the sanctuaries of wildlife and the wildlife reserves are categories that exist in only one of the seven countries. The same is true for the zoological reserves and the botanical gardens. As we have seen (map 3), there are many classified forests and “forest parks” in the four coastal countries of West Africa and they form a significant proportion of the total number of protected areas in these countries (photo 2). The same is true for the wildlife reserves of Cameroon. In contrast, Equatorial Guinea and Niger have no protected areas without an IUCN category while the total number of their protected areas is much lower than that of other countries. It is to be noted that to this category of “classic” protected areas are added the sacred forests which are classified according to customary rules and which are managed in a traditional way. Even though they are rarely or never enumerated by governments and by the IUCN, there are large numbers of them in certain countries : 5 549 in Ivory Coast (Avit et al., 1999) and 2 940 in Benin (Republic of Benin, 2002a), for example. The efficiency of the protection measures of the vegetation in these “sacred forests” is often high, but their size is generally very small (Fournier and Millogo-Rasolodimby, these proceedings).

The wealth and benefits provided by protected areas

17The creation of protected areas has not always been accomplished without difficulties and this process has generated poverty at the local level through the expropriation of resources belonging to the local residents (Mengue-Medou, 2002 ; Bacary, these proceedings), through the organization of their forced displacement (Cernea and Schmidt-Soltau, 2003) and by forbidding or limiting their access to certain natural resources. During the colonial period and after the independence of former colonies, the objective has however consisted of ensuring the preservation and the availability of the most representative ecosystems, in order to be able to draw the direct and indirect advantages of the environmental goods that they harbour.

18A certain number of goods and services are provided by the protected areas of African countries and the conservation of biological diversity thus contributes to reducing poverty. This is quite clear from the national biodiversity conservation strategies of the seven countries studied. The collection of many natural resources (honey, meat, fish, fruit, fibres, construction materials, traditional medications, etc.) is carried out by the communities in the protected areas and in their peripheries simultaneously with other income-generating activities (agriculture and herding mainly). Protected marine areas are for example, of capital interest for all those who live by fishing since they constitute refuges and reproduction sites for vulnerable species. Protected areas of West and Central Africa provide direct benefits (natural resource exploitation, recreational and scientific activities…) and indirect benefits (protection of watersheds, land conservation, safeguarding of genetic stocks…) for nation-states and regional groupings. For example, the forest of West Africa provides essential ecosystem functions, such as the regulation and maintenance of air quality, the formation of precipitation, the retention of excess carbon dioxide and the prevention of soil erosion (Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, 2001).

19Over and above their function of preserving useful natural resources or providing essential environmental functions, protected areas are also supposed to provide income (from hunting, eco-tourism, recreation…) and create employment (managers, guides, tourist agencies, etc.) These financial and economic impacts have rarely been quantified for the whole of the protected area networks of West and Central Africa, which makes it difficult to judge their real contribution to the GNP of national economies and their role in the reduction of poverty. Even though the ecotourist potential of protected areas is sometimes hardly exploited (Sinsin and Djodjouwin, these proceedings), it seems that in Niger for example, tourism related to viewing wildlife has developed well during these last few years and other income-generating activities have started up in the periphery of protected areas (notably in park W). In the Gambian protected areas, activities related to ornithology make it possible for local residents to increase their incomes and in Equatorial Guinea, the creation of the national park of Monte Alen has made it possible to create a certain number of jobs for forest guards and guides (Mortier, 2004). In general in Central Africa, certain protected areas have made it possible to offer new services, to catalyze new activities and to generate new resources through ecotourism (Vives, 2003).

The management of protected areas

Government management

20In each of the seven countries, a government department is responsible for the management of protected areas (table V)

21In certain countries, these government institutions are relatively independent administratively and financially of the ministries which are responsible for them. This makes it possible for them to be more efficient and to undertake actions that are sustainable. One of the ten actions necessary for the effective management of protected areas consists in effect of “maintaining or creating efficient and semi-autonomous institutions responsible for protected areas and ensuring that relations with the ministries responsible for them and local government services are clearly defined and that the adoption of policies such as classification is significant” (World Bank/WWF, 2002).

22The intervention capacities of these government institutions are in general too low and when the management of protected areas is not carried out under the direct control of the government, it is carried out in partnership with international NGOs (WWF, WCS, CI, IUCN, Birdlife International …) or agencies of bilateral cooperation (AFD, GTZ, SNV, DFID, DED…) which provide technical assistance or play the role of executing agency for the management of certain parks and reserves.

23The management programs of protected areas make possible the development of improvement plans for these areas and their peripheral zones, the training of technical agents and certain local residents, the purchase and the maintenance of equipment and also observation and scientific monitoring (see for example the monitoring of wildlife in Niger – Box 1) or in Benin (Tehou, these proceeedings), the improvement of ecotourist infrastructures, support for community projects for the sustainable management of natural resources, etc.

24In spite of the ongoing process of decentralization and the international recommendations concerning the involvement of local residents in the management of protected areas, few systems of co-management are really in effect in the seven countries concerned. The management of protected areas is still very centralized, even if several projects show a real willingness to work with local communities. This is notably the case in Benin (Conservation and Management of national Parks Program), in Niger (Support Program for the Management of the Natural Resources of the Aïr and Tenere and the ECOPAS-W Program), in Ivory Coast (where the National Parks Management offices coordinate management activities for protected areas at the local level) and in Cameroon where various initiatives related to community forestry, to the surveillance and the management of hunting and poaching have been developed (see Egbe, 2001 ; MINEF, 1998 ; Olsen et al., 2001 ; Wal et al., 2001 ; Noupa, these proceedings) In addition there are in this country 16 “community managed hunting preserves”.

Financial management

25The financial means put at the disposal of the services in charge of the management of the national parks in most of the countries originate from government budgets (general administration budget and the special budget for investments and equipment), from external financing provided by various sources (GEF, World Bank, European Union, KfW/GTZ, DED, AFD, DFID, SNV, USAID, IUCN, WWF, WCS, Birdlife International, etc…) and in a few cases, loans from banks. In the framework of annual activity plans, these financial means are managed in various autonomous frameworks in general imposed by funders. Regular audits are carried out to ensure that funds are correctly used by the managers.

26For greater efficiency, it is absolutely necessary to ensure the direct long-term financing of networks of protected areas, including by permanent support from the international community, and to set up management structures that are efficient and transparent and will ensure that financing is used for the effective management of protected areas and for the support of local communities (World Bank/WWF, 2002).

Factors in the degradation of protected areas

Excessive anthropic pressures on natural resources

27West Africa is one of the most endangered areas of the continent (Fournier and Millogo-Rasolodimby, these proceedings) and already in 1990, the assessment of protected areas in the sub-region was rather negative (Sournia, 1990). The degradation of ecosystems and the erosion of biodiversity are very high. The “zone of high biological diversity” of the Guinea forests of West Africa is one of the most fragmented of the planet (Conservation International 2006). Only 15 % of its initial area still exists today. The underlying causes of the loss of biodiversity in these forests are increasing human population density, extreme poverty and low environmental governance. (Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, 2001). To these factors can be added modifications related to global climatic changes. (Fournier and Millogo-Rasolodimby, these proceedings).

28In Ivory Coast for example, the national parks, in spite of their restricted protection status, have over the years seen increasing degradation due to agriculture and illegal use of forests, bush fires, poaching and gold-digging. Since 1950, it was above all the extension of cocoa and coffee plantations that have caused the quasi-destruction of the Ivorian forest (Ibo and Leonard, 2000) and the national park of Taï have suffered in particular (Tondoh and Miller, these proceedings). Thus, the degradation of the vegetal cover of all the national parks of these countries is estimated at about 6 % of the total area of the network. In Benin, it is judged that most of the classified forests are degraded, as well as 35 % of the area of the national park W, as a result of the high density of transhumant cattle, the expansion of cotton plantations and the limited means that this park has benefited from for its protection (republic of Benin, 2002a). In Gambia, it is hunting that seems to be the most problematic for biodiversity. This is confirmed for different protected areas of the sub-region (Arouna and Sinsin ; Tondoh and Miller, these proceedings) and globally by Oates (2002). For this author, hunting large wildlife is a much greater threat for the forest parks of the sub-region than the destruction of habitats as this activity is less visible and thus more difficult to control. Poaching also constitutes a serious threat to the wildlife of desert regions such as northern Niger (Anthelme et al., 2005 ; Claro et al., these proceedings).

29Practices such as itinerant slash-and burn agriculture (Sounon Bouko and Sinsin ; Houndagba et al., these proceedings), transhumant herding and overgrazing (Kièma and Fournier ; Usengumuremyi et al. ; Houndagba et al. ; Saliou and Sinsin ; Wala et al. ; Arouna and Sinsin ; Djodjouwin and Sinsin, these proceedings), late-season bush fires (although this is debatable, see Fournier and Millogo-Rasolodimby), while excessive pressure on the fish and wood resources (Wala et al. ; Houndagba et al. ; Sounon Bouko and Sinsin ; Arouna and Sinsin ; Djodjouwin and Sinsin, these proceedings) also sometimes pose problems for the conservation of protected areas of West Africa. Finally, mining exploitation threatens certain protected areas such as the Nimba Mountains in Guinea (Carey et al., 2000) or that of the Taï park in Ivory Coast (Hadley, 1994) and the process of biological overrun by invasive plants is multiplying in numerous sites (for example, Agbani and Sinsin, these proceedings).

30In Central Africa, the situation appears to be less preoccupying. The threats to biodiversity, which are above all poaching and forest exploitation, are growing but remain at quite a low rate in comparison with most of the other tropical forest zones of the world (Partnership for the Congo Basin Forests, 2005) However, commercial hunting is an activity which has intensified during these last fifteen years (Vives, 2003). It constitutes one of the most serious threats for the maintenance of the biological equilibrium of the ecosystem of the Dja (Fotso, 2000). Generally, Culverwell (1997) shows that the protected areas of Cameroon suffer mostly from poaching but also from overgrazing, forest exploitation, non-sustainable fishing techniques, agriculture in certain zones, excessive immigration and criminal destruction. The deforestation rate in the country is 0.6 % per year, which corresponds to the second highest rate in the Congo basin (Bikié et al., 2000). The mountain forests and the atlantic coastal forests are the most endangered in Central Africa as they are relatively small in extent and they are also at the same time submitted to heavy human pressures (Doumenge et al., 2001).

Strategic, political, legal and institutional problems

31To these factors of degradation relating to the use of natural resources must be added factors that are sometimes more important which are strategic, political, legal and institutional.

32Armed conflicts are for example a very important cause of the degradation of biodiversity in Central and West Africa (Shambaugh et al., 2001). The Nature Reserve of the Aïr-Ténéré in Niger and that of the Nimba Mountains of Guinea have greatly suffered, notably from the heavier poaching and the massive displacements of populations fleeing conflicts. These two sites have in addition been for several years on the Unesco World Heritage list of endangered sites. The situation is also critical for the national parks of Ivory Coast and certain bordering countries that are currently “taken over” by rural residents as a result of the grave political crisis that the country has been undergoing since 2002 (Ouedraogo, 2006). In Central Africa, the situation has been tragic with the armed conflicts of the nineties (see, for example, Shalukoma, Mena Wa Mena, these proceedings) but Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have been relatively spared.

33Generally in the forest zone of West Africa, even if certain protected areas are relatively efficient (Wala et al. ; Natta et al., 2001, these proceedings), the strategies of conservation have often failed and the processes of development have regularly led to the overuse of natural resources (Oates, 1999). The management of protected areas has often been too authoritarian (Hounkpé, these proceedings ; Tchamie, 1994, these proceedings ; Bacary, these proceedings) and the involvement of local residents in the management of protected areas is often not carried out. When it does exist, it is ambiguous (Ibo and Leonard, 2000), difficult to set up (Bourgeot, these proceedings) or limited to a participation “by information or by material incitements” (Joiris, 1998). A real participation is only possible if the know-how of the indigenous people is taken into account as well as their representations concerning biological diversity (Bourgeot ; Giazzi and Tchamie, these proceedings). These are too often ignored in the approaches to conservation in West Africa (Shalukloma ; Tohinlo ; Kpéra et al., these proceedings).

34In Central Africa, Vives (2003) considers, after 10 years of experience in the region, that the checks on conservation are due to under-development in the rural zones but also to the importance of political considerations, which often take priority over technical decisions, along with the weakness of the government institutions responsible for protected areas. It seems in addition that numerous forest reserves in Cameroon should be reclassified and provided with a protection status that is much higher (Doumenge et al., 2001). Box 2 shows the 7 most important shortcomings that limit the efficiency of the management of protected areas in Cameroon. They reflect well the preoccupations of a certain number of other West and Central African countries.

35In Benin for example, the national biological strategy (republic of Benin, 2002b) indicates that the outlook reveal serious shortcomings and the necessary tools are lacking for the rational management of the environment and biological diversity. Regulation, as a tool for the management of protected areas, is poorly understood (Agbényo, these proceedings) and the different institutions in place in general have only a low capacity for intervention as much from the material and financial point of view as from that of human resources. In Equatorial Guinea, for example, in spite of the existence of an adequate network of 13 protected areas ((Doumenge et al., 2001), only the national park of Monte Alen is effectively managed and the INDEFOR, the government institution in charge of the management of protected areas of the country is awaiting foreign aid (Vives, 2003). Apart from this, the institutional framework that could grant responsibility to local communities in the management of natural resources is generally absent. There are no databases and the knowledge of natural resources, of the process of their evolution and the components of biological diversity is still very poor. The data concerning the management of environmental resources and biological diversity are very insufficient. Finally, the gap between the demographic dynamics, the needs of the people and available exploitable resources remains very wide.

Measures taken by nation-states

36The analytical forecasts presented by the different papers all conclude that the pressures on the parks and reserves can only intensify without a broad response to the problems. Thus, most countries have ratified international conventions aimed at the conservation of natural resources, that they have developed national strategies and various action plans on these themes and that several transborder initiatives have been developed.

International conventions

37During these last few decades, most West African countries have ratified more than fifty multilateral treaties on the environment that deal with various subjects and that have been adopted at the regional level or on a bilateral basis and this is the case for the 7 countries that are dealt with here. (table VI). These resolutions are a determining contribution, as they reinforce the authority of national bodies and supplement external assistance (Doumenge, 1996).

38To these 6 international agreements should be added the “convention relating to cooperation for the protection, management and exploitation of marine and coastal environments of the region of West Africa” which covers all the countries taken into consideration except Niger. In the same way, the conventions on climate change and on desertification control are important but they have less direct influence on the management strategies of protected areas. Each of the conventions includes obligations for both parties, but the papers presented at this seminar indicate that the commitments made are not always respected. New and additional financial and human resources are needed to ensure the efficient management of the networks of protected areas. The policies are hardly adapted to the legal dispositions of most of the conventions that have been ratified.

National strategies and plans of action

39West African states, under the impetus of bilateral partnerships, have adopted several strategies and national plans for the environment the most important of which are :

• the national biological diversity strategy and plan of action
• the national environmental plan

40Each country develops documents or legal texts at its own rhythm that make it possible for them to honour the commitments made during the signature and ratification of the different international conventions. Table VII presents an example of the evolution of the main results achieved in Benin by the Ministry of the Environment, Habitat and Urbanism since the presentation of the Convention on Biological Diversity at the Rio summit in 1992.

41According to the nation-states, the equivalents of “national environmental Plans” include programs relating to desertification control, the shared management of watersheds and water resources, renewable energies, living conditions, climate change and the management of biological diversity. National strategies and action plans for the conservation of biological diversity are of course the beacon planning documents for the management of protected areas of different countries. Most of the seven countries studied have produced such a strategy but are having difficulty achieving the objectives set in this document. The level of performance observed is often determined by the funds available for carrying out the activities programmed (Hele, in Fosi Mbantenkhu, 2006).

42With regards to poverty reduction, it is by the goods and services that they procure that protected areas have proven to be an efficient and sustainable network of economic contributions for the local residents. The Poverty Reduction Strategies of the different countries thus integrate little by little certain elements relating to biological diversity and protected areas.

43To remedy certain weaknesses in the national systems of protected areas, some countries such as Ivory Coast, go further by preparing a Framework Program for the Management of Protected Areas. This framework program includes sections on eco-development, co-management, participative or community management and the socioeconomic integration of protected areas in the general policies of management/improvement of natural resources. The implementation of these programs is being carried out in the framework of an expanded concertation that includes all the actors (representatives of the private sector, partner governments and civil society, including notably the communities of the peripheries) and involves contractual commitments between the management of the parks and local communities. In Ivory Coast, the Framework Program has been set up to remedy shortcomings in the concerted approach, a lack of a sense of ownership by local residents in the peripheries in conservation actions and in the limitations of the institutional framework (box 3).

44This program has, among other things, the objective of generating immediate income for the residents of the periphery of protected areas by the creation of employment related to the necessities of the program than on the medium- term through the development of tourism and alternative activities.

45In the context of the development of its Forestry and Environment sectoral program, Cameroon is well on the way to finalizing a new national network of protected areas as well as an action plan the implementation of which will make possible an effective management of protected areas and a national strategy of conservation of wildlife and conservation sites.

46Benin for its part is carrying out a Program of Conservation and Management of National Parks that aims at protecting the sudan-type ecosystems of the North of the country.

Transborder initiatives and sub-regional networks

47Next to these national initiatives, the different countries of West and Central Africa work together, supported by NGOs, cooperation agencies and international institutions to create transborder protected areas, to share their experiences within sub-regional networks and to carry out conservation projects involving several countries.

48The national park W, which spans the borders of Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso is thus the first transborder reserve of Africa. The ECOPAS Program (Protected Ecosystems in Sahelian Africa), supported by the European Union, has undertaken a large number of initiatives since 2001, aimed at coordinating the management of this park that traverses 3 countries. This extraordinary protected area is also integrated into two other international initiatives. The first, coordinated by the Regional Office of IUCN for West Africa (IUCN-Brao) consists of carrying out a community-based conservation project in the zones of influence of the WAP parks complex (W, Arly and Pendjari) in Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. The second is a project coordinated by Unesco that aims at reinforcing the scientific and technical capacities of 6 biosphere reserves of the arid zones of West Africa.

49In West Africa there are also other important transborder protected areas such as that of the Nimba Mountains (Ivory Coast, Guinea and Liberia), of the Niokolo Koba-Badiar (Guinea and Senegal) and the Niomi Delta of the Saloum (Gambia and Senegal) (Sandwith et al., 2001).

50As for the Reinforcement Network of the Marine Areas of West Africa (RAMAO), it federates 8 protected marine areas of 5 countries. It is a component of the vast Regional Program of Conservation of the Coastal and Marine Zone of West Africa which aims at coordinating the efforts of institutions and individuals in favour of the conservation of the littoral of the coastal countries of the sub-region (Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Cape Verde and Sierra Leone), next to the Sub-regional Fisheries Commission (CSRP). This program has supported the creation of a regional strategy for the protected marine areas of West Africa (Collectif, 2003).

51The Network of Protected Areas of Central Africa (RAPAC) is a similar initiative that groups together 8 protected areas and the national institutions that are in charge of them in seven countries. The wildlife reserve of the Dja in Cameroon and the National Park of Monte Alen in Equatorial Guinea are members. The objectives of this network are to 1) maintain technical capacities in the field, 2) reinforce the synergies and the exchange of experiences and skills among nation-states, 3) impose a global and regional vision of the management of classified spaces in the sub-region and their natural resources (Vives-Aveling, 2001).

52This network has emerged from the ECOFAC project (Program for the rational use of forest ecosystems in Central Africa) which has financed actions since 1992 in 7 protected areas of the sub-region. Cameroon has also developed several transborder initiatives with the Congo, the Central African Republic and Gabon, such as the trinational protected area of the Sangha created in 2000. It also includes two contiguous national parks with Nigerian and Chadian protected areas (Sandwith et al., 2001).

53The Regional Program in Central Africa for the Environment (CARPE) and the Partnership for Congo Basin Forests (PFBC) groups together numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations. They are working in the direction of the Yaoundé Declaration on the conservation and sustainable management of the tropical forests which was signed by 7 chiefs of state of Central Africa in 1999 and which plans among other things to create transborder protected areas. Their objectives are to improve understanding of the forests of Central Africa, to promote a sustainable management of the forests of the Congo basin and to improve the quality of life of the residents of the region (PFBC, 2005).

54All of these initiatives are carried out through partnerships among nation-states, agencies of cooperation and organizations such as IUCN, WWF, Wetlands International, Conservation International or the World Conservation Society (WCS) which favours exchanges among countries and multi-national projects managed by their regional and national offices.

Outlook and future actions : lessons learned

Involvement of local residents

55Certain problems due to the presence of protected areas close to village territories, notably the damage caused by wildlife to subsistence and cash crops, create tensions between the local communities and the managers. These differences are generally settled and resolved in a search for consensus through compensations and setting up buffer zones. Without the involvement and support of the local residents, it is illusory to set up a system of sustainable management and the protected areas of Africa could not survive without the participation of the local residents (Giazzi and Tchamie, these proceedings). The effective participation of local residents in the management of natural resources should include great flexibility to make it possible to adapt to each socio-cultural context encountered (Fotso, 2000).

56Most of the management programs for protected areas were until very recently hardly oriented towards local communities except for certain unusual initiatives. The ongoing process of decentralization in most countries of West and Central Africa should inspire the managers of protected areas to greater initiatives in the search for the complete involvement of local communities in the management of protected areas. The training and reinforcement of the local governance of conservation are sizeable challenges (Guéneau and Jacobée, 2004). The Durban Agreement (V World Congress on Parks, South Africa, 2003) in addition reaffirmed the vocation of protected areas to pursue the objectives of conservation and development. This agreement recommended notably new strategies of collaborative management. For better co-management of natural resources, local residents should be involved in decision-making, which should lead to an equitable sharing of the advantages goods and services) that protected areas provide. National strategies, in adopting the “ecosystem approach” (UNEP/CDB, 2000), should increasingly include the imperatives of sustainable development in the decisions that commit the government and local communities.

57In certain countries, the Rural Code sets the legal framework of agricultural, sylvicultural and pastoral activities with a view to land improvement and the protection of the environment. Completed by numerous other pieces of legislation on decentralization, the environment and sustainable management of natural resources, the Rural Code can secure the rights and profits of local communities. Thus, protected areas can be perceived as the best means of convincing the residents to commit themselves to a process of sustainable management.

Integration of policies related to protected areas in a national framework

58Policies of protected areas cannot dissociate global orientations and strategies adopted by nation-states. As Giazzi and Tchamie underline (these proceedings), “The presence of the State is required in conservation”. Also, it is within the strategies of poverty reduction and desertification control or land improvement measures that protected areas can be promoted and managed for the development of their economic and environmental benefits. The costs and benefits of protected areas should be integrated in the national economies. The inclusion of protected areas in national strategies can make their maintenance possible in the form of a coherent system capable of assisting other national development efforts. Without this real integration, the perception of protected areas by local communities will always remain limited and mostly negative.

59The legal and institutional frameworks of protected areas by country should also be adapted to take into account new national strategies and new approaches and initiatives on environmental problems. It is also indispensable to regularly assess the application of international conventions and treaties on protected areas in West and Central Africa.

Mobilization of additional means

60The levels of staff in charge of the management of protected areas are currently much too low to permit efficient promotion and valorisation of resources. To hope to attain such objectives, a heavy accent should be laid on human resources : their training but also the integration of auxiliaries from local communities to assume certain responsibilities. Taking into account the fact that protected areas are privileged sites for the conservation of biological diversity and that in spite of their condition, they have not been spared certain forms of abusive exploitation, they should be accorded the importance that they deserve by providing them with significant means. Advocacy to this effect should be urgently developed. The protected areas of West and Central Africa should benefit from a mechanism of financing that is their own and sustainable, that will further secure them.

A strong political commitment in favour of protected areas

61The mobilization of additional means should go along with a willingness of nation-states to agree on special efforts with a view to the extension of the network of protected areas, of securing current networks and the respect for the dispositions of laws and regulations relating to the protection of nature. This political commitment should also permit the development of actions of environmental education by favouring the emergence of a generation that is favourable and sensitive to protected areas as well as to the improvement of knowledge on the condition of protected areas, the biological diversity and the relations between people and nature within these spaces. It is thus necessary to enumerate and share the lessons learned in the management of protected areas.

Conclusion

62This brief presentation of general aspects of the management of protected areas in West and Central Africa shows that in spite of heavy pressures on the natural resources of the region, the role of the protected areas with regards to the conservation of biodiversity is increasingly recognized. It also reveals the need widely expressed to make of them a development tool integrated into national policies, but there are serious shortcomings in the degree to which local residents have been delegated responsibility for the management of these spaces and in the means mobilized to satisfy their objectives.

63The positive view that decision-makers in West and Central Africa have of protected areas is a major advantage for their development (photo. 3). What needs to be done is to translate this view into concrete facts. To do this, the necessity of associating various local institutions and the international community in the sustainable management of protected areas is a promising path ; only such a mobilization on a large scale can favour the resolution of the many problems which confront protected areas in West and Central Africa. It is to be hoped that the “Initiative for African protected areas” adopted at the V World Parks Congress in Durban in 2003 and destined to “develop for all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa a system of protected areas that is well conceived and managed and can satisfy the environmental and social needs of each country” could contribute in a significant way to this objective, indispensable to the sustainable development of the continent.

Dedication :
We dedicate this paper to the memory of our joint author, Commander Moussa Alou, deceased during the drafting of this text