Ivory Coast is determined to restore its forest cover, which is now estimated at only 2.97 million hectares compared to 16 million hectares in 1960, according to the results of the national forest and wildlife inventory (IFFN). Thus, the government of this West African country recently announced a special operation to reforest 100,000 hectares of land each year starting in the second quarter of 2023.
At a total cost of 600 billion CFA francs (914.6 million euros) financed mainly by the Ivorian government, the initiative will increase Ivorian forest cover to 6.5 million hectares by 2030. It will be implemented in localities suffering from massive deforestation. These include Daloa in the Haut-Sassandra region and the Autonomous District of Abidjan, which are increasingly affected by drought.
This approach is inspired by the forestry code voted in June 2019 in the National Assembly of Ivory Coast with the objective of giving “a boost” to the protection of biodiversity in both rural and urban areas. It will therefore be to supervise agricultural practices including the cultivation of cocoa at the origin of the loss of forest cover in this West African country. “We will introduce 60 million seedlings of agroforestry species by 2024. There is also the second phase of the Forestry Investment Project (PIF2) which will mobilize 320,000 hectares of seedlings,” say Ivorian authorities.
Read also-AFRICA: Mayors meet in Abidjan to call for more climate
The 100,000 hectares of land that will be restored annually follow other reforestation initiatives that have taken place in recent years in Ivory Coast. This is the case of the “one day, 50 million trees” campaign, which since 2021 has enabled the planting of 28.5 million trees, notably in Vavoua, located 195 kilometers from the capital Yamoussoukro. The city of 134,000 inhabitants was recently covered with 15 hectares of forest thanks to tree seedlings (Teak, Akpi, Fraké and Framiré) donated by the Nature Conservation Society of Ivory Coast (SCNCI).
Benoit-Ivan Wansi