Putting Trees Back in the Hands of Malians: L’Association Malienne Pour La Conservation de la Faune et de L’Environnement and the Balance between Using and Protecting Local Forests

Products from trees provide the essential human necessities of food and shelter, as well as the means to cook and construct them with firewood and lumber. With the earth’s ever increasing population and growing industries, these needs have also risen, and forests worldwide are feeling the strain of deforestation and over usage for both commercial and household consumption. Deforestation in Africa is occurring at a smaller scale than on other continents, but this does not mean it is any less damaging to local ecosystems (Bessassen, 2009, p. 76). In fact, African forests are particularly stressed because approximately 90% of the wood harvested from its trees is used for energy purposes and the harvesting has been found to occur in unsustainable manners (Bellassen, 2009, p. 76). Indeed, although Africa consumes the same amount of wood as Asia, when population is taken into account, Africa has by far the highest consumption of firewood per individual at 0.63 m3 (see Table 1). Although deforestation may be happening at a faster rate in other regions of the globe, the heavy reliance on Africa’s forest products has already caused permanent danger to its environment and is not showing good signs for the future. In the Sahel region of West Africa, the forests of Mali are showing no exception from this trend. Years of colonial exploitation for economic gains followed by strict state environmental policies established a system of forestry management disadvantageous for the rural poor population struggling to find resources for themselves. After droughts and wood shortages brought West Africa and its environmental degradation into international spotlight, political decentralization reforms have encouraged more local management of natural resources. While both Malian and internationally based non-governmental organizations have worked hard to turn the tables against deforestation by working with rural villages, the area’s environment is still at risk

Contextual analysis in two villages of the Niger River Inner Delta

The Community-based Fish Culture in Seasonal Floodplains and Irrigation Systems (CBFC) project is a five year research project supported by the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), with the aim of increasing productivity of seasonally occurring water bodies through aquaculture. The project has been implemented in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Mali and Vietnam, where technical and institutional options for community based aquaculture have been tested. The project began in 2005 and was completed in March 2010. The objective of the study was to improve our knowledge of mare management and the livelihoods of two villages of the Niger Inner Delta, Severi and Komio. We wanted to understand mare access and fishery management and to highlight the different stakeholders involved in mare management as well as the different rules regulating access to the various mare resources. We implemented a series of Focus Group Discussion with the different socio-economic groups of the villages (fisherfolk, farmer-fishers, and herders) and a series of semi-structured interviews with key informants and stakeholders involved in mare management took place in July 2008.Fishing rights, River fisheries, Livelihoods

Utilisation et conservation des ressources en sol et en eau (Nord Cameroun) : rapport final

Après avoir étudié les principaux facteurs régionaux du milieu naturel, une partie de l'étude est consacrée à la caractérisation et à la cartographie des systèmes écologiques de la région de Mouda. Une troisième partie est axée sur les problèmes de fonctionnement des espèces ligneuses et herbacées et fait appel à la connaissance du régime hydrique des sols et à l'organisation des couvertures pédologiques. Une dernière étude, celle du ruissellement et de l'érosion peut être considérée comme la ligne principale du projet

Pastoral systems research in sub-Saharan Africa

Presents a collection of conference papers defining pastoral systems research; the survey and diagnostic phase of pastoral systems research; ILCA's experience in remote sensing techniques and aerial surveys; survey of vegetation resources; livestock productivity and animal nutrition; pastoral production strategies, wealth effects, household studies, and labour data collection as well as livestock marketing studies. Includes papers on possibilities for improvement in pastoral production; procedures relevant to pastoral systems research, and findings of case studies from Nigeria and Niger highlighting the experimental and testing procedures relevant to pastoral systems research