Innovation in Forest Management in Burkina Faso: Analyzing the Dynamics of the Actor-Network in Cassou

Abstract

The challenges of sustainable forest preservation led Burkina Faso to implement participatory forest management projects in the mid-80s. These projects led to the creation of Forest Management Sites including the one at Cassou. This innovative approach focusses on the active participation of the local communities. It raised high hopes for sustainable forest management. This presents paper traces the process and analyze the outcome derived from the participatory forest management. The Actor-network theory was used as to analyze the implementation process of the CAF model. In doing so, qualitative approach was used through key experts’ and stakeholders’ interviews and focus groups discussions to understand the trajectory and to evaluate the process of implementing the given model. The results show that the dynamic that prevailed at the beginning of the process has eroded over time to the point that after more than three decades of implementation, the model has not yet reached its phase of stabilization or irreversibility. Actors no longer seem to refer to the roles assigned to them, and they are not respecting their commitments. In part, factors such as population renewal and growth, decentralized development management (which were not taken into account at the outset) call for new forms of negotiations between stakeholders to regain control of the process for the sack of the Cassou managed forest.