Decentralization and Community Forest Management in Burkina Faso: Constraints and Challenges

Natural Resource Management Schemes as Entry Points for Integrated Landscape Approaches: Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso

“…Forest management groups (GGF) are cooperatives at community level made up of woodcutters autonomously exploiting fuelwood from the demarcated parcels (Coulibaly-Lingani et al 2011). GGFs utilizing a common CAF parcel (Unité d’Aménagement Forestier) form Unions of Forest Management Groups (UGGFs or Union des Groupements de Gestion Forestière) (Kabore and Ouedraogo 2000).…”

“…Productive land uses, principally cereal cropping and agro-pastoralism, are often combined with the harvest, processing and sale of wood and NTFPs, which in turn contribute to food security (Boffa 1999 ; Koffi et al 2016 ). Historical importance of forests is emphasized in customary laws that commonly protect important tree species from felling throughout the country (Coulibaly-Lingani et al 2011 ; Ouédraogo 2009 ). The CAF itself does not explicitly pursue an integrated approach beyond the demarcated production forests set aside for fuelwood extraction.…”

“…Protection and replanting of threatened tree speciesProduction forests each sub-divided for 20–25 year rotational harvestingSawadogo (2007), Ouédraogo (2009), Sawadogo and Tiveau (2011), Coulibaly-Lingani et al (2011), Foli and Rabdo (2016), Arevalo (2016)• CAF Management Board: administration of forest sites and enforcement of statutory laws and voluntary regulations• CAF Audit Committee: audit efficacy of the quota system on wood volumes harvested, sales, taxes and revenues (financial arm) and monitoring wood extraction and regeneration activities (technical arm)• CAF technical unit: technical support to the Forest Management Groups’ activities• Forest management group: cooperative of woodcutters responsible for controlled wood harvesting and users of non-timber forest products• Union of cooperatives that utilize the same forest sites• External partners: funding CAF activities, technical support and capacity building of CAF technical unitsModified Taungya System (MTS), GhanaForest restoration program in degraded forests with farmers engaged in tree planting and maintenance and benefitting from intercropping of food crops and a share in timber revenues• Forestry Commission (FC): supplying seedlings, training and extension; marketing the plantation products; overall supervision; financial managementCo-management with responsibilities and benefits shared between the state (Forestry Commission), small-scale farmers and local communitiesDegraded forest reserves with a focus on restorationProgressive transformation of degraded forest reserves via early agroforestry systems (intercropping with food crops) to plantation forestsAgyeman et al (2003), Blay et al (2008), Kalame (2009), Kalame et al (2011), Ros-Tonen et al (2013, 2014), Acheampong et al (2016)• Forest services division: the FC’s district representation• Resource Management Support Center (technical wing of the FC): supports the implementation of the MTS• MTS farmers: tree planting and maintenance• Administrator of Stool lands and traditional authorities: providing secure and uninterrupted access ...…”

“…Felling permits detail the quantity and type of wood species to harvest from the forest reserve. The revenues of fuelwood trade are distributed on a ratio of 9.1, 13.6, 27.3, and 50%, respectively for the forest tax (harvesting permit), contribution to the village development fund, the forest management fund, and the forest management group members (Ouédraogo 2007 ; Coulibaly-Lingani et al 2011 ). The forest tax supports and staffs CAF offices, whereas the forest management fund supports communities to carry out annual tree planting and monitor the biodiversity of forests (Ouédraogo 2007 ).…”

The conundrum between political and sectoral decentralizations: The case of Cameroon

“…Involvement of municipal governments in environmental affairs and municipalization in the developing world have become a mainstay of contemporary global development and environmental policies (Andersson, Gibson, & Lehoucq, ; Coulibaly‐Lingani, Savadogo, Tigabu, & Oden, ; Nathan & Boon, ). Through the case study of the pioneering experience of the Dimako Council in municipal forest governance over a six‐year period, the analysis undertaken here highlighted the negative impact that the lack of co‐ordination between the domestic political and sectoral forest management decentralizations has had on the governance of “municipal” forests and, more generally, on the official national objective of building effective, democratic and accountable municipal governance in Cameroon.…”