Essential elements for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services for sustainable development are the equitable participation of stakeholders and the organizational development of local management associations. The project has set up a stakeholder forum bringing together all the sectors involved in the park to identify areas of ecological, economic and social interest for which there is a will of the populations to protect and manage them. Its mission is to manage conflicts related to the exploitation and conservation of natural resources, to promote the capacity building of actors, to encourage the emergence of research in the sustainable management of natural resources. This forum has the technical support of the project for their organizational development as well as for technical and financial management, including the monitoring of the rules for the use of their resources. These rules of use were drawn up in a participatory manner for each buffer zone. To do this, a series of consultation sessions was organized for each village.
Benefits drawn: participatory process for revising the park's development plan; participatory ecological monitoring and surveillance.
Security of tenure: the natural boundaries of the park give it protection and the buffer zone is easily demarcated.
Legal consultation framework: recognition of their status and functions by ministerial acts.
In a context where the land use plan is defined, local authorities must be involved in discussing future land use in order to come to a legally recognized agreement that will be accepted and honored in the long term.
Regarding the rules of sustainable management in the buffer zones, the challenge was to develop rules and sanctions in accordance with the forestry legislation in force and applicable at the local level. For this, a series of consultation sessions was carried out to allow the population to become more familiar with the law in terms of conservation and management of natural resources.
Due to their lack of knowledge in these matters, users often perceived the reduction of their natural resources.