African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences (Jul 2023)
The rights of local population in the exploitation of forest resources in Burkina Faso
Abstract
In Burkina Faso, forest-based natural resources are important to local populations and to the country's economy. Most of the subsistence activities of these local populations revolve around forest resources, hence their dependence on these resources to meet their vital needs. In view of this dependence, any initiative for the sustainable exploitation of forest resources should first and foremost serve to satisfy their needs. Taking into account the specific rights of these populations is therefore an essential condition for the sustainable exploitation of forest resources. This has been recognized both internationally and nationally. As a result of this recognition, a legal and institutional framework has been defined to ensure that the specific rights of local populations are effectively taken into account in forest management. This is the participative and concerted management of forest resources. Provided it is effective, this framework should eventually lead to sustainable forest management that benefits all stakeholders. Innovative approaches have been tried out as part of its implementation, with fairly satisfactory results. However, these results remain insufficient. Hence the need to analyze the legal framework for logging and the protection of the rights of local populations in Burkina Faso, in order to identify the challenges involved in ensuring the effective participation of local populations in the management of national forest resources. Data from environmental law, environmental sciences, social sciences and anthropology are our main sources of data, which in the context of this analysis enabled us to demonstrate that the legal framework for forest exploitation does not sufficiently integrate the endogenous rights of local populations, and to show that the participatory approach, if implemented effectively, can contribute to sustainable management of forest resources while respecting the rights of local populations.
