Could Sacredness Contribute To Forest Conservation In African Urban Areas
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Attention is presently paid to forest conservation because of its potential for the sequestration of carbon. More than rural forest, urban forest is of greater utility because of it can serve as a natural low cost laboratory for pedagogic activities of several schools. Unfortunately those forests are regressing in Benin. The objective of this study is to analyze whether sacredness could help reverse this situation in State forest reserve. It focused on two urban forests : the State forest reserve of Abomey (Abomey District) in the centre of Benin, and the State forest reserve of Kilir (Djougou District) in the northern Benin. The information was collected through a literature review on the administrative status of these forests, a mapping and enumeration of forest species, participant observation of the pressure on the forests, traditional authority interview and focus groups analysis with stakeholders of both forests. The investigation revealed that the size of the two forest decreased drastically, while each of the remaining parts sheltered a sacred space. From respectively a size of 173 ha in 1941 and a size of 50 ha in 1949, 43.4 % of the Abomey forest and 70 % of the Kilir forest are occupied illegally. Sacred spaces were completely preserved through time, suggesting that a sufficient recovery of sacred powers could facilitate the sustainable management of urban State forest reserve. Keywords : Sacredness, Urban Forests, Conservation, Benin. Une importance grandissante est actuellement attribuee aux forets a cause de leur capacite de sequestration du carbone. Plus que les forets rurales, les forets urbaines sont d’une utilite plus grande du fait qu’elles peuvent servir de laboratoire naturel a faible cout pour les activites pedagogiques d’un nombre important d’ecoles. Malheureusement ces forets regressent au Benin. L’objectif de cette etude est d’analyser si la sacralisation pourrait aider a renverser cette situation au niveau des forets classees. Elle a porte sur deux forets urbaines : la foret classee d’Abomey (Commune d’Abomey), au centre du Benin et a la foret classee de Kilir (Commune de Djougou) au nord Benin. Les informations ont ete collectees au moyen de la revue de litterature sur la situation administrative des forets, la cartographie et le denombrement des especes des forets, l’observation participante de la pression sur les forets, l’interview des chefs traditionnels et l’analyse de focus groups avec les acteurs concernes par les deux forets. Les investigations revelent que la superficie des deux forets a drastiquement diminue, pendant que les portions restantes comportent chacune un espace sacre. A partir respectivement d’une superficie de 173 ha au classement en 1941 et d’une superficie de 50 ha au classement en 1949, 43,4 % de la foret d’Abomey et 70 % de la foret de Kilir sont occupes illegalement. Les espaces sacres sont integralement conserves a travers le temps, ce qui suggere qu’une valorisation suffisante des pouvoirs sacres pourrait faciliter la gestion durable des forets classees urbaines. Mots cles : Sacralisation, Forets urbaines, conservation, Benin.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W102475337