| Article Index |
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| Pe.Pa.W: The park has a periphery |
| Objectives and e results |
| Beneficiaries |
| Data synthesis |
| Multimedia |
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Local development, participatory management of natural resources and economics of biodiversity in the Departments of Botou, Diapaga, Tansarga and Logobou – Burkina Faso
The project Pe.Pa.W (Développement Local à la Périphérie du Parc W), as it is known in Burkina Faso, concerns the peripheral areas of the Trans-frontier Reserve of the Biosphere W (Regional Park RTB / W). It is a set of national parks and fauna reserves that form a vast complex of protected areas (for a total of about five million acres), which extend across the borders of three contiguous countries: Burkina Faso, Niger and Benin. Through all these parks and reserves flows the River Niger.
The park is named W after a particular section of the river, which is rich of meanders that, viewed from above, form a large W. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, the park is located in an area of transition between savanna and forest. Moreover, it is an important biodiversity reserve thanks to the presence of the most representative specimens of the African fauna.
The project by ACRA takes place in Burkina Faso and is an intervention for local development which focuses on the environment. It aims to proper land management, especially of its agro, forestry and pastoral resources. The project is part of a three-year program co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in partnership with ACRA and two NGO’s: Africa70 and Ricerca e Cooperazione. The project is divided into four areas of intervention: transhumance, enhancement of agro systems and biodiversity, environmental education, ecotourism.Problems to solve
The project would be an answer to the precarious living conditions of local communities, which are closely linked to the degradation of natural resources in the Province of Tapoa, located on the outskirts of Trans-frontier Reserve of the Biosphere "W". Anthropogenic problems (grazing, poaching, overexploitation of natural resources and loss of soil fertility) are liable to affect the ecosystem of the park causing a deterioration of living conditions of rural populations. The uneasy coexistence of a protected reserve and residential areas – along with all the problems concerning the environmental impact – can not be separated from the elaboration of plans for proper land management that take into account both the needs of the population and the preservation of the park ecosystem.
