Browsing by Author "Tabi Agbor, Ferdinand Tanyi"

Community-based forest management (CBFM) is believed to have potentials to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, achieve sustainable forest management and improve local livelihood especially in developing countries. In the 1980s, Burkina Faso acknowledged and integrated this model in managing some of its forest resources. A fifteen-year rotation period within a forest management unit (FMU), considered one of the few success stories of community forest management in Africa, was established. Until now, most empirical studies conducted on the subject in the country have focused on governance, local participation and benefit sharing. But, with over 80% of the country’s population dependent on fuelwood, as the main source of household energy, observations and other field information of these forests revealed irregularities which questioned the actual management processes. This study therefore aimed to assess the sustainability of community forest management in Burkina Faso by evaluating whether the management practices complied with those in the management plan. A “Chantier d’Aménagement Forestier” (CAF) of Cassou, comprising of twelve forest management units (FMUs), created for fuelwood production destined to the capital city, Ouagadougou was selected, and three managements units: FMU I, FMU VIII and FMU IX were randomly selected for this study. The management plan was analyzed using their prescribed logging information. Management practices were then analyzed by comparing the prescribed logging and actually logged information. Forest inventories and field observations were conducted in the selected FMUs to collected field data and to identify other factors affecting management activities. Findings show that the management plan was appropriately elaborated, but management practices did not adhere to the prescribed norms, which resulted in overexploitation of forests. Field observations revealed that the forest was subjected to many interrelated human activities and processes, which made the logging unsustainable. This study includes proposals, which if correctly applied, can reduce pressure on the forest and improve the sustainability of forest management.