Seedling of Parkia biglobosa well established after planting on a “zippelé” landscape located at Gourga, Ouahigouya.

Desertification and land degradation are a major issue in the West African Sahel for both human livelihoods and the conservation of biological diversity. As rural people’s livelihoods depend on their knowledge to manage available natural resources, there is great need to restore existing “zippelés” and to combat increasing desertification. In northern Burkina Faso, more than 40% of the land surface is covered by “zippelés” and they are further expanding. Restoration of degraded ecosystem is indeed a priority for biodiversity conservation in Burkina Faso that need to meet its populations need as well as internationally set agenda such as the Bonn Challenge (www.bonnchallenge.org). During the first grant, we implemented several techniques in order to restore biological diversity in “zippelés” landscapes. This initial work contributed to identify candidate species for restoration programs and to deepen knowledge on the performance of techniques. Furthermore, a vegetation survey in an older restoration site in Ouahigouya showed the conservation importance of restored “zippelés” in terms of biodiversity.

For this second phase, the most successful measures of restoration and most used endangered plant species will be selected for an establishment in the focus area in order to encourage local initiative to re-establish vegetation by using the well-established Agro-ecological Knowledge Toolkit (AKT available at http://akt.bangor.ac.uk/). The current project will be implemented in two villages (Gourga and Tougou) both close to Ouahigouya (Northern of Burkina Faso).

The aim is to provide technical support on ecological restoration and practical information on how to synchronize communities’ livelihoods and conservation practices as a strategy for biodiversity conservation. The most successful restoration techniques will be applied according to local preferences and the efficiency known from scientific results (RSG 1). The ecological restoration will have positive effects on biodiversity and human livelihoods as it will help to significantly increase cover and diversity of plants. Knowledge transfer will take place in the form of workshops (media outreach activities, posters), involving villagers from the focused restoration areas, people experienced in the application of the methods and scientists. The restoration sites will be monitored and the data analysed scientifically and made available with scientific publications and manuals. The collected data will be stored in the West African Vegetation Database for long time data sustainability. Results will be summarized in easily understandable recommendation papers such as policy brief for local government agencies.