This project takes place in the Bangassou forest, more specifically within the Mourou-Fadama Eco-Development Management Unit (UGED, 200,000 ha). This area features diverse ecosystems, made up of dense forests and savannas.
This forest massif is not subject to industrial exploitation. Despite its low human population density (1.4 inhabitants/km²), pressure from the population on resources is high and intensifying year on year. Current land-use practices — agriculture, hunting, fishing, livestock farming, non-timber forest product gathering and mining — are often unsustainable.
Faced with this situation, finding an alternative management approach capable of both helping conserve the area’s ecosystems and improving local populations’ living conditions emerged as an imperative.
It was with this in mind that Project CAF/95/G31, “Protection and Sustainable Use of the Bangassou Forest’s Biological Diversity through a Highly Decentralised Approach”, was initiated and implemented with financial support from the GEF and UNDP, and technical expertise from the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation.
The Local Eco-Development Initiatives Project (PILED) aims to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources within the Mourou-Fadama UGED, through the establishment of village-based hunting tourism zones. Its specific objectives are to ensure the sustainable management of the Bangassou forest’s natural resources, to strengthen the capacities of the applicant organisation and local institutions in forest ecosystem management, to enhance the value of the forest through hunting tourism, to use the proceeds to improve living conditions, and to create an intercommunity development fund and jobs.