One of our research sites in Northern Benin is situated in the Pehunco
region between the Atakora chain and the Borgou. Main focus in this area
lies on anthropogenic impacts on several aspects, such as the influence
of fire on savannah ecosystems and plant communities, traditional
medicine and declining medicinal and other multipurpose plants, as well
as cash crop production and its influence on biodiversity conversion.
Based on ethnological and botanical fieldwork the Gusõn medicinal plant
has been implemented in 2004 together with local healers, and with
financial support from the GTZ-program ProCGRN (Programme de
conservation et de gestion des ressources naturelles) and the German
Embassy. General aim is to protect decreasing and frequently used
medicinal plant species in the region, to safeguard the rich ecological
and medicinal local knowledge and to thus guarantee the plant's
long-term availability and accessibility. This garden is an auspicious
example for local sustainable management strategies of natural resources
and for future conservation activities. Only within one year four
further locally protected areas (LPA), such as communal, mystic and
sacred forests and botanical gardens werde implemted by local
stakeholders and technical support from BIOTA. These territories are now
part of the transnational network of locally protected areas in many
BIOTA research sites (Northern Benin, Burkina Faso). Besides the initial
subproject *ethnology* and *botany*, further co-operating subprojects
are *remote sensing* and *zoology (termites)*. |