As has occurred in the Sahelian area, the Zakouma National Park in Chad and Bouba Ndjidda National Park in Cameroon have suffered continuous degradation of their natural resources over the past 30 years. The increases in human and animal populations there have called into question the traditional use of these areas. The equilibrium that makes the environment fluctuate between the savanna of the national parks and the adjacent protected areas is fragile and unstable. Historically, it has been human actions and bush fires – initially by hunters, and then through agriculture and grazing – that has continued to shape and feature these landscapes that are not in balance with the current climate conditions. These wooded savanna environments of the anthropogenic Sudanian type (Djangrang, 2011; Douffissa, 1993; Boutrais et al., 1980) can be maintained only through consistent livestock agriculture, because it is overgrazing that contributes to the return of the forest. When overgrazing occurs, the grass layer becomes depleted and vegetation cover decreases. Fires thus start less easily, and bush fires become less violent. This allows a few trees to develop again, gradually leading to the return of the forest (Boutrais et al., 1980).
The objective of the IMPACTEE project is to highlight an approach focused on the future of the nexus between protected areas and pastoralism in Central Africa, at a time when Chadian and Cameroonian policy-makers are seeking to expand conservation management to achieve biodiversity goals.
To determine the state of degradation of the pastureland used by the herders, three surveys will be carried out on three different types of pastureland: pastureland during the wet season, pastureland that is remote but still under the rainy season, and pastureland outside the park subject to transhumance. The findings of the pastoral survey will form a georeferenced database helping to:
- Clarify the role of fire in the dynamics of the savanna, according to which “only periodic and early fires can maintain the savannas” (Piot, 1969; Rippstein and Boudet, 1977; Menaut, 1977; Devineau, 1984; César, 1992; Yonkeu, 1993; Ntoupka, 1999).
- Determine whether the overgrazing of pastureland necessarily leads to a decrease in forage potential and causes a change in vegetation structure (Boutrais et al., 1980).
- Characterize pastoral areas.
Partners
