Results of the IUCN Congress: reconciling environmental protection and economic development

Audio 48:30

A fisherman in Benin in a protected area, the Sitatunga Valley Community Nature Reserve in Benin © RFI / Raphaëlle Constant

By: Amélie Beaucour

58 mins

From September 3 to 11, 2021, the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) congress was held, a real barometer of the state of the biodiversity situation in the world. 

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Governments, civil society, indigenous peoples, scientists and businesses have therefore come together to define the framework for the coming years to protect biodiversity and the environment. With more than 37,000 species of wild animals and plants threatened, according to 2021 figures, alarming projections on the state of forests, the challenges are indeed significant. Overfishing, poaching, deforestation, water and soil pollution ... Human activity is largely responsible for the erosion of biodiversity. In regions where populations live mainly on natural resources, it is difficult not to involve them in conservation policies at the risk of cutting them off from their means of subsistence.How to protect the environment with local populations? How to ensure the economic development of local communities in protected areas?  

With :

Maud Lelièvre

, President of the French Committee of

IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)

Alexis Kaboré

, President of the

NatuDev association

in Burkina Faso

Manfred Aimé Epanda

, President of the

association Tropical Forest & Rural development

 in Cameroon

An extract from

Raphaelle Constant's 

long report

in Benin in the Sitatunga Valley Community Nature Reserve (

broadcast scheduled for October 2021 on RFI

). 

Our reporter embarked in a canoe on the Sô river with Joseph Dhossou and Saturnin Amoussou, members of

CREDI ONG

.

This organization created the Sitatunga protected area in 2005 with the idea of ​​partnering with the local population to find sustainable solutions.

Report at the heart of this jewel of biodiversity: between forests, swamps, songs of mesh doves and weavers gendarmes.

Extract from Raphaelle Constant's report in the Sitatunga valley reserve in Benin.

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  • Environment

  • Society

  • Economy

  • Benign

  • Cameroon

  • Burkina Faso