A country rich in biodiversity, Burkina Faso is home to a wide variety of wild animals and birds on which some local communities depend for their survival. However, several major causes are responsible for the decline of this biodiversity. Actors are sounding the alarm on species threatened with extinction, due to the worrying decrease in their population. A situation which has a negative impact on environmental health.
Some sheds display bones, heads, legs, claws, bird feathers, tails and dried skins of wild animals. All these animal parts sold in this market in Ralo, a town located about twenty kilometers from Koudougou, in the Center-West region, have a use and a meaning.
A baroque and mysterious decor, even if the degree of effectiveness of these panaceas remains difficult to assess. Only sellers, buyers, healers and marabouts hold the secret. Idrissa Zoubga, in his sixties, trader of these products, explains that the activity is profitable for him, but he notices that it is more and more difficult for him to obtain certain species in high demand by his customers for mystical or therapeutic needs, such as elephant skin, vulture head, lion fat… “Three customers can come for the same species and in the places where I source my supplies, there is no trace of these animal remains”, he said, very shy. Like Mr. Zoubga, many traders in wild animal remains are concerned about the growing scarcity of these species, which they attribute to the closure of hunting, due to the terrorism that has shaken Burkina Faso for around ten years. This fear is also shared by healers, aware that certain birds and mammals have important therapeutic virtues and represent a wealth of traditional pharmacopoeia. Traditional practitioner Boukaré Soumabingbeogo, who says he has been treating different types of illnesses using plants and animal remains for around forty years, insists on the effectiveness of his treatments, if all the “ingredients” are in place. “Products are becoming increasingly rare on the market and what’s more, they are expensive. If we do not find the remains of the species we are looking for, we stop the preparation of the product for the disease to be treated, because if another species is used, the treatment will not be effective,” he argues.
Poaching, donations and village hunting
In the opinion of foresters, these animal remains found on the market can come from several sources, such as poaching, donations and village hunting. For them, the management of sport hunting products is framed by texts. As an example,
an expatriate who slaughters an animal will only get the trophy and ¼ of the meat. ¾ are given to the population. However, they warn that ivory or any other part of an elephant that comes into trade is the result of poaching or natural death. This loss of animal species, faith of the actors, is closely linked to that of plant species. Burkina Faso is becoming drier and drier and this encourages the migration of wild animals to more suitable places. The program manager of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Burkina Faso, Jacques Somda, confides that elephants, for example, are permanent migrants. “Herds from a site
can receive strangers. Some travel hundreds of kilometers. Others make short trips, just to get water and come back. We are not sure that the species we have all come from Burkina,” he puts things into perspective. He clarifies that in their areas, some species can be numerous, but it is not certain that at the national level their population is sufficient. This is the reason why the assessment of the conservation status of migratory species, in his opinion, is more complex, if the different border countries do not carry out their studies simultaneously.
According to Mr. Somda, establishing the “red list” of species involves collecting all the information. Once the species no longer appears in literature or becomes less popular, there is a risk that it will become extinct from its environment. “But that doesn’t mean it actually disappeared. This is why we are alerting decision-makers that there is a risk that this species is disappearing from the earth and that they must pass a law to protect it, so that we no longer kill it. “, he said. An organization based on science, the IUCN, the faith of Jacques Somda, trusts scientists, because if they have not mentioned the species, it is because they have not observed it. For him, scientifically, we cannot confirm that a species has completely disappeared, we consider it extinct. “Announcing that the species has disappeared is to shock. It is a political message for decision-makers to make strong decisions, because species whose numbers have drastically decreased deserve to be protected,” he explains.
643 protected species
For the regional director in charge of the environment of the Center-South, Lieutenant-Colonel of Water and Forests, Aboudou Ouédraogo, the word “disappeared” is ambiguous. “To say that the population of the species has decreased is more appropriate, because to hear it, we need in-depth studies and very regular inventories to prove that the species has
completely disappeared,” he notes. The teacher-researcher, specialist in animal biology and ecology (biodiversity), Professor Adama Ouéda, indicates that in reality, there is no precise time to confirm that a species has disappeared.
“How much time to spend depends on what we call sampling effort and how much we know about the species. The easier the species is to observe and study, the shorter the time. But generally, it takes 3 to 5 years or sometimes decades, 20 to 30 years of observation,” he explains. In Burkina Faso, the second monograph published in 2020 by the ministry in charge of the environment lists 123 protected species of wild mammals and around 520 species of birds. The situation of these species is of concern to the highest levels of the State. Indeed, during the 16th United Nations conference on biological biodiversity held in Colombia in October 2024, on the theme: “Making peace with nature”, the Burkinabè minister in charge of the environment, Roger Baro, said that Burkina Faso’s three-year action plan 2025-2027 requires priority funding of US$515,000 to catalyze future investments, impacting the biological heritage which includes these species of mammals, birds, fish, woody and cultivated herbaceous plants. “This 16th conference must be that of urgent actions for a world in harmony with nature, because this nature speaks to us. We have an obligation to listen to him and provide adequate responses. Our survival and our historical responsibility towards future generations are at stake,” he convinces himself.
“Let each country establish its red list”
The Nazinga Game Ranch, created in 1979, is located in the south of Burkina Faso, on horseback
between the provinces of Sissili and Nahouri. According to its director, the Commander of Water and Forests, Kévin Tiendrébeogo, it covers an area of 91,300 hectares and constitutes a reference in West Africa. This protected area, the best equipped with potential in the entire Pô-Nazinga-Sissili complex (PONASI), currently hosts 18 diurnal mammals, approximately 21 nocturnal species, 32 species of fish and 273 species of birds already inventoried, without overlooking the reptiles. like the Nile and savannah monitor lizards, the Seba royal python. The most dominant species in terms of ecological and economic value are, among others, the elephant, the antebellum or coba, the buffalo, the hartebeest, the buffoon waterbuck, the cephalos, the red and green monkeys, the spotted hyena and striped, the jackal and
other medium-sized carnivores. For birds, there are bustards, ducks, hornbills, francolins and protected species such as vultures. Among all these species, there are those whose numbers are declining. As the country of Upright Men does not yet have a national red list, it relies, according to the IUCN program manager, Jacques Somda, on the international red list to classify the conservation status of its species. This list was developed for wild species and the IUCN lists
species of mammals and birds threatened with extinction which are found in categories qualified as “endangered”,
“near threatened”, “vulnerable” and “critical”.
“All these categories are part of the threatened group. If the species is threatened globally and the same species is found in Burkina Faso, it is considered threatened. But this is not completely fair, because an assessment of the red list has not been made,” underlines Mr. Somda.
900 elephants on the Nazinga ranch
From the explanations of the IUCN program manager, it appears that concerning endangered species in the world, there are among others, the pangolin suspected of being at the origin of COVID-19 which has probably disappeared, the “vulnerable” and “protected” elephant, because numbers are declining. The lion, the panther, the wood hog (neighbor of the wild boar), the bush hog (scientific name, Potamochoerusporcus), are also threatened with extinction. The chimpanzee is already close to extinction. In terms of avifauna, we note the dove, the vulture and the bustard species.
“At the IUCN, the global red list is updated annually. But the data obtained from Burkina dates from 1993. A species can be threatened at the global level and not be at the local level,” he explains. Mr. Somda wants each country to establish its national red list for all species. Contrary to the threat of the elephant which is part of the IUCN red list, the director of the Nazinga game ranch, the commander of Water and Forests, Kévin Tiendrébeogo, reassures that at the site level, the elephant is doing wonderfully, with a workforce of more than 900 animals. “It is rather the Buffon’s cobe which tends to disappear again from the ranch, but not at the national level. The species may be threatened in a protected area but not in all areas,” he specifies. He confides that from a 1982 inventory, the Buffon’s waterbuck showed zero numbers and it was in 1983 that managers reintroduced it. The species came from the Arly National Park, with an effective nucleus of eight individuals. As for lions, cheetahs and leopards, there are no longer any footprints in the entire PONASI complex, regrets Commander Tiendrebéogo. He emphasizes that it is since the 1970s that the roars of the lion have no longer been heard in this complex, specifying however that a species can disappear and reappear. It can migrate and end up in another continent and this migration can be, according to him, continental or intercontinental. These species have electronic bands and they are tracked.
Ensure good ecological monitoring
The IUCN program manager indicates that Burkina had tried to make a list for fish, unfortunately, it did not go all the way, because access to scientific information is very difficult, in addition due to the fact that higher education and scientific research are not sufficiently developed so as to have a document, where all publications are stored as in developed countries. “This does not mean that in Burkina there is no scientific knowledge. There are some, but most of them are in drawers. Which explains the difficulty of establishing a national red list,” he laments. He says he recognizes that resources are limited, but as long as the
country will not have this list, they will still make decisions on the overall red list and the risk of making a mistake is high. For him, the Burkinabè State must commit to making financial resources available to the competent services, such as universities, research centers and departments in charge of biodiversity, for the establishment of this list. The Director General of the National Office of Protected Areas (OFINAP), Colonel
Philippe Tamini, added that funding is needed to ensure good ecological monitoring, in order to be able to accurately give the number of species that abound in the forests of Burkina Faso. In Mr. Somda’s opinion, the species can leave its wild state for a domestic state. At the Wedbila farm, located in the Koubri department in the Center region, promoter Clark Lungren lives his passion for breeding wild animals. Among these, there are “threatened” and “extinct” species, such as the red-necked ostrich which, according to him, has already disappeared from Burkina for at least 50 years.
Three 100 kg bags of vultures seized
For conservationists and advocates, many animals provide a multitude of ecosystem services essential to environmental health and human well-being. It is demonstrated, according to them, that species such as African elephants contribute significantly on the one hand, to the capture of carbon and on the other hand, they are pollinating agents and play a role of germination and soil fertilization. By depositing their droppings which contain seeds from the many plants they consume, these seeds are sown and grow into new grasses, bushes and trees, providing shelter and food for many other species, while improving the ecosystem health.
“The seed from elephant dung is like pre-treated seed. If the elephant disappears, we will have to find other animals that have the capacity to process hard seeds,” they warn. They attest that birds are champions of pollination because they fly from tree to tree and allow the ecosystem to rebuild. For Mr. Somda, the scavenger is a sanitation agent. THE
Commander Tiendrebéogo reveals that the scavenger has virtues and there are mystical aspects around the species. “It is illegally hunted by the hundreds, to be sold. In 2011, three bags of 100 kilograms of dried vultures, bound for Nigeria, were seized,” he recalls. If a species has been removed from the food chain, deplores the director of OFINAP, it is the chain that has been broken and, in the long term, the environment will suffer, because the species disappears with the entire ecological process to which it is linked. “If the threat trend continues, there will be climate refugees, because Burkina will no longer be livable,” he warns. Just like the
protected areas and to provide wildlife with all the security it needs”
Climate change affects people, it affects wildlife. In describing the current state of biodiversity in Burkina Faso, the specialist in animal biology and ecology, Professor Adama Ouéda, emphasizes that it is marked by strong pressures, both anthropogenic and climatic.
These pressures are linked to socio-economic, political, institutional and cultural factors that reinforce the effect of direct threats and stressors, such as habitat fragmentation. He details that in one of their studies published in 2021,
Mining appears to be one of the three main threats to animal biodiversity, along with the modification of the functioning and pollution of ecosystems. “The city of Ouagadougou is an example of ecosystems weakened by the loss of biodiversity, because several plant and animal species which could have contributed to improving the
quality of life have disappeared,” he argues. The other “thorn” that disturbs the peace of animals is poaching. “With the closure of hunting, we have been facing a serious poaching problem in recent years, especially on the Ghanaian side,” confides the provincial director in charge of the environment of Nahouri, Commander Jean Bosco Zongo. He reports that the ranch was attacked in 2019, causing a loss of life and injuries. But a network was made at the water points, since he maintains that it is around these places that poachers lurk, especially in the dry season.
Actions to halt the loss of animal biodiversity
Faced with the threat, the IUCN is leading efforts so that the major economic sectors which contribute to the destruction of species habitats can rebuild them. IUCN program manager Jacques Somda says that two years ago, the Biodev2030 project identified the three sectors: mining, cotton and livestock, as having negative impacts on ecosystems. “These sectors which are gradually destroying can also rebuild. We spoke with certain mining stakeholders, with a view to supporting them in the implementation of the project. Unfortunately for political reasons, the partner suspended its funding,” he regrets. So that populations do not fall back on natural resources, they are made aware of their role in conservation and the current dangers weighing on biodiversity. For this, surveillance activities, ecological monitoring, redevelopment, as well as the creation of community conservation zones, Civil Society Organizations (CSO) working in conservation and Income Generating Activities (IGA) have been implemented. in place. “On the operational level, there is increased monitoring of the resource. The personnel must be well trained on all levels: technical, material and human, for better protection,” indicates Commander Tiendrebéogo. Generally speaking, several strategies are implemented by Burkina Faso for the reduction of threats and the restoration of ecosystems.
These are the Forestry Code, the Environmental Code, the Mining Code, the Agrarian and Land Reform (RAF) and the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP). At the international level, the country has joined the conventions on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), that of RAMSAR which regulates all wetlands, and that of Rio on the challenges linked to change climate, loss of biodiversity and desertification. “However, we believe that we need to strengthen measures to restore our ecosystems, because we have ecosystems that are already quite degraded,” notes Professor Ouéda. He believes that if nothing is done, Burkina Faso will remain in a vicious circle where the loss of biodiversity will lead to an inability of populations to be resilient, which will increase poverty, itself a source of increased environmental degradation. He therefore recommends developing resilient agriculture with high productivity and environmentally friendly exploitation of natural resources. Lieutenant-Colonel of Water and Forests, Aboudou Ouédraogo, confides that, in the Center-South region, many programs implement tree plantations to compensate for environmental degradation, sequester carbon and mitigate the effects of climate change. There is also the PONASI-UNDP project. “All these initiatives are linked to the preservation of the environment and the protection of wildlife. The populations, being in direct contact with the environment, have become aware and are actively involved in the activities,” he rejoices. Environmental protection texts certainly exist, but the director of the ranch and that of the provincial department in charge of the environment believe that “wild” fauna is not sufficiently protected and that these texts must be reviewed, in order to that the management of offenses be stricter.
With the security crisis, Commander Jean Bosco Zongo warns that, if the security of protected areas is not controlled, they could become refuges for terrorists who would draw on the wildlife stock for their food. He makes it known that
projects have recently been launched to secure forest areas, financed by the UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). “Animals need tranquility, facilities, supervision and water points. If these conditions are met, wildlife will develop without any difficulty,” he is convinced. This is why the ministry responsible for the environment set up OFINAP. This public establishment of the State is responsible for implementing the national policy for the protection and management of wildlife, in the eight protected areas grouped into six management units, including three functional units, namely Bekuy, Deux Balé and Nazinga. The other three are currently inaccessible due to insecurity, but OFINAP, according to its director general, continues to work to manage wildlife through developments, while waiting to reconquer the entire national territory.
Afsétou SAWADOGO
[email protected]
Sanction commensurate with the crime
Burkina Faso is rich in wildlife and occupies the top two rang in West Africa. When a species is threatened, a law is passed to prohibit its capture, slaughter, etc. Environmental defenders would like, on the one hand, that the fines under the forest code, especially offenses within classified forests, be revised to the tune of 5 to 6 million CFA francs, with a fixed imprisonment of 6 years, taking into account the current security situation in the country. On the one hand, that adequate means be made available to the forest services, motivate them and galvanize them further for pmore protected areas.
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