Inza KONE
Inza Koné
Community empowerment for the conservation of Critically Endangered primates and their habitat
Full Solution
Tanoé Forest
Whitley award
The Tanoé Forest in Ivory Coast harbors an exceptional wealth of biodiversity. It also is the only place where 4 of the rarest West African primate species are thought to still co-exist. Recently, the forest has been threatened by conversion into an oil palm plantation. Inza Koné started a campaign to save the forest, ranging from engagement with the local community to political campaigning, resulting in the development of a community-based conservation program.
Last update: 02 Oct 2020
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Context
Challenges addressed
Environmental challenges
- Poaching / habitat destruction / Water pollution / Overharvesting of biological resources / Ecological isolation
Economic challenges
- Poverty / Food insecurity / Lack of alternative livelihoods
Social challenges
- Lack of capacity / Conflicting interests
Location
Ivory Coast
West and Central Africa
Process
Summary of the process
Community empowerment consists in enabling more people to play an active role in the decisions that affect their communities. An empowered community is one which is: (i) confident, (ii) inclusive, (iii) organized, (iv) co-operative, and (v) influential. The five blocks of the above described solution aim at stimulating long-term social engagement of informed and skilled local communities. Indeed, authentic community engagement happens when people in communities create structures and processes that are empowering for themselves and others around a shared vision and in compliance with national legislations and procedures. In the above-described case, the shared vision is the long-term conservation of the Tanoé forest and its wild inhabitants combined with the well-being of local communities.
Building Blocks
Establishment of national committee
In October 2009, a national committee comprising community members, NGOs and governmental authorities was established by the Ivorian Minister of Environment to deal with the process of classification of the Tanoé forest as an official community reserve.
Enabling factors
The process must be initiated by informed communities’ representatives and the conservation value of the site must be highlighted. In this case, traditional land owners, i.e. the villages located around the forest wrote a request letter to the Minister of Environment for the site to be classified as a community reserve. In their letter, they highlighted the conservation value of the site as revealed by the preliminary data provided by the CSRS team. They also highlighted threats to the site and expressed their willingness to protect their ancestral heritage.
Lesson learned
Informed communities may take important conservation initiatives. In this case communities were informed about the uniqueness of the primate fauna of the Tanoé forest. They were also informed about the possibility offered by the Ivorian law as per the creation of community reserves.
Community-led reserve designation
A workshop was organized for communities to decide about the appropriate organizational scheme and elaborate drafts of the management rules of forest resources. Then a preliminary participatory demarcation of the forest was made with community members at the frontline. The boundaries were materialized by painting marks on trees. Later, a survey led by governmental authorities allowed confirming that most local residents agreed to go forward with the classification of the demarcated portion of the forest as a community reserve.
Enabling factors
A consensus on the boundaries of the area dedicated to conservation must be obtained to avoid later conflicts amongst stakeholders. In this case, communities decided about the boundaries of the area to be dedicated to conservation. No existing farm was included inside the future reserve.
Lesson learned
Communities must be well informed about the implications of their decision before the conservation area is demarcated. They must lead the process entirely and must receive only technical support in the production of maps. The survey conducted by governmental authorities to confirm the absence of any competing interest must be as inclusive as possible.
Pyramid structure of management institutions
The management committees from each village constitute the bottom of the pyramid; they are responsible for implementing the action plan for the management of the forest as decided by the two paramount associations; they identify management activities to submit for approval to their paramount association; they are also responsible for designing and implementing the village development Plan. The two paramount associations coordinate the work programs of the management committees; they elaborate policy guidelines for the management of the forest; they consolidate the village development plans and are also responsible for fundraising. The federal association (at top of the pyramid) will be the official manager of the Tanoé forest on behalf of the villages of the project area.
Enabling factors
All management committees and the two paramount associations have been established following the requirements and procedures of the national administration. Their bylaws and organizational schemes have been officially registered by the appropriate governmental authorities. The same procedures will be followed for the establishment of the "federal association" that will be the official interlocutor of the government.
Lesson learned
It is important that local institutions are formed in compliance with the country’s laws and administrative procedures. In this case the process took some time because villagers needed to be well informed about the procedures and to be trained in elaborating the bylaws of their associations. Also the project focused on capacity building on the governance of local associations so that these associations become definitively functional.
Resources
Improved access to basic human needs
The project is improving access to safe drinking water, medical supplies, education and alternative livelihoods to demonstrate that conservation does not have to be a choice between protecting wildlife and human welfare, but instead that conservation and poverty reduction can go hand-in-hand.
Enabling factors
Any support to local development must take into account the aspirations, values, and know-how of communities.
Lesson learned
The long-term engagement of local communities depends not-only on their environmental consciousness, but also on the profitability of conservation activities and flanking measures. Indeed, if people benefit from natural resources, they will be more inclined to protect resources and protected areas.
Devolving Responsibility And Rights Back To The Land Owners
The tenet of the community-based conservation concept is community empowerment for the long term management of their natural heritage. This is in contrast with classical conservation approaches including so-called participatory management approaches. Indeed the process will be considered as successful only if engaged communities become autonomous in dealing with all aspects of ecosystem management. This also encompasses development of alternative livelihoods such as smart cultivation of vegetables and cassava.
Enabling factors
In Côte d’Ivoire, government legislation allows for the formation of community-based local institutions to govern the use of natural resources. Legislation also allows for the formation of protected areas owned by individuals or communities. Finally, the establishment of community-managed protected areas still allows residents to utilize natural resources sustainably.
Lesson learned
If people own or are entrusted with something they look after it. • If people are involved and have a say, then they will take care of it.
Impacts
Decline of proposals to drain and convert 8,000 hectares of the Tanoé Forest into an oil palm plantation - Development of a community-based system for Tanoé Forest’s conservation and management, resulting in empowerment of local communities, protection of ancestral heritage and biodiversity - Outstanding achievements have resulted in a growing acknowledgement of the process as a promising model for wildlife conservation in West Africa, e.g. granting of 2009 Future for Nature Award and 2012 Whitley Award to Inza Koné for his work for Tanoé Forest.
Beneficiaries
Local communities / Wildlife authorities / Conservationnists
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 1 – No poverty
SDG 3 – Good health and well-being
SDG 13 – Climate action
SDG 15 – Life on land
Story
The Tanoé-Ehy community-based conservation project is considered an inspiring example of community empowerment for conservation. Indeed, as the project leader, I received several national and international awards and I am regularly invited to share my experience with other project leaders in Africa. Of note is that I was invited to give several talk at the 2014 World Parks Congress in Sydney despite the fact that the Tanoé-Ehy forest has not yet been officially designated as a protected area. The success of the project lies in continuous iterations in which research feeds actions and vice-versa.
