Rural livelihoods: conservation, management and use of plant biodiversity in west and central Africa

• Published in: Biodiversity (Nepean) 2006-12, Vol.7 (3-4), p.17-26
• Main Authors: Mbile, P., Tchoundjeu, Z., Asaah, E., Degrande, A., Anegbeh, P., Facheux, C. C., Mpeck, M. L., Foundjem-Tita, D., Mbosso, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Conservation; Flowers & plants; Rainforests; Rural areas
• ISSN: 1488-8386; 2160-0651
• DOI: 10.1080/14888386.2006.9712807

Forest loss and fragmentation over the past decades in the West and central Africa region is having a direct effect on the habitats of valuable plants, driving species isolation, reductions in species populations and in some cases, increasing extinction rates of potentially useful plants. Furthermore, some tropical rainforest plants exhibit hampered seed germination or seedling establishment through hampered natural regeneration in disturbed ecosystems. Nevertheless, these forests in West and central Africa remain important sites, habitats and sources of potentially useful plant diversity. Many tropical tree species and their products have been documented regarding the roles they play as food, medicine and other services they provide to local peoples. The exploitation, use and commercialisation of these tree products constitute an important activity to people living around forests and beyond within the region. For some of these species, existing markets have expanded within and outside their wide ecological range. As well, great potential exists for further development at the industrial level. Since 1998, the World Agroforestry Centre, Africa Humid Tropics, in partnership with several local and regional stakeholders in West and central Africa, have been implementing a Tree Domestication Programme aimed at diversifying smallholder livelihood options through the selection, multiplication, integration, management and marketing of indigenous trees/plants and their products, ensuring that they provide both livelihood and environmental services. As tree domestication itself depends on existing plant diversity, biodiversity at genetic, species and ecosystem levels have been important considerations in cultivar selection, farming systems diversification and contributing towards ecosystems resilience, respectively. This tree domestication programme is being implemented in Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and more recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The programme started with the prioritisation of a range of indigenous fruit and medicinal tree species at local community levels. Emphasis then moved to capacity-building: training, followup and information dissemination focussing on a range of low-tech and adaptable propagation, marketing, selection, cultivation and management techniques for local level stakeholders, and training, backstopping and dissemination, for a range of regional government and non-governmental partners, in order to enhance o