Organic farming methods such as intercropping, crop rotation, and tree maintenance are reducing reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides that have contaminated food and water sources for communities surrounding the Pendjari Wildlife Reserve. A national-local co-management scheme ensures revenues from the reserve are shared with the local communities who originally inhabited the land.

Nature-based Intervention:

The Union des Associations Villageoises de Gestion des Réserves de Faune Pendjari (U-AVIGREF) or the Union of Village Associations for the Management of Pendjari Wildlife Reserve, is focused on introducing organic cotton production practices requiring, for example, the maintenance of trees in cotton fields to increase soil fertility and agrobiodiversity. Villagers are also intercropping cotton with soy, maize, and cowpeas. Okra and sorrel of Guinea serve as trap plants for pests that threaten cotton. These practices not only increase pest resistance but also provide edible crops to the surrounding communities.

Notably, the initiative also focuses on redistributing control over the Reserve to local communities, many of whom were forcibly relocated when the park was first established for hunting. The national body has agreed to share 30% of revenue from game hunting within the reserve with U-AVIGREF. In 2013, this share came to 38 million FCFA or 64,000 $USD. The funds were divided among participating villages to support investments in education, healthcare, and infrastructure.

Overview of context and outcomes:

U-AVIGREF is working to simultaneously improve income opportunities for local communities and reduce human pressures on the reserve through more sustainable agricultural practices. Cotton production is one of the main sources of income for local villages and accounts for 10-15% of the nation’s GDP overall. However, it is most often carried out through monocropping methods heavily reliant on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These chemical inputs jeopardize the health of local communities by seeping into and contaminating soil and water.