The causes of the degradation of Togolese forests are twofold: direct causes and ultimate causes.
When it comes to direct causes, we can cite: agriculture, livestock, transhumance, energy, timber exploitation, ore exploitation, fires and forest fires. As for the underlying causes, they relate to economic, demographic, natural, political, institutional and cultural factors.
Deforestation has led to land degradation, which has, at in turn, making towns and villages vulnerable to flooding, wildfires and other extreme weather events.
This situation is explained by a conscience ecological not insufficiently rooted in collective customs.
However, à Ando Kpomey, a small village located to About sixty kilometers northwest of Lomé, the country’s capital, the inhabitants understood very early on the importance of biodiversity, and the need to keep it.
For a long time, indeed, this village has been the target of wildfires and high winds that destroyed homes and crops.
To overcome this phenomenon , the populations have dedicated their efforts in reforestation all around their village. They have set up a green belt, prohibiting access to it’ anyone. The green belt of Ando Kpomey is managed in a participatory way by the whole community. who defined the rules for the management and protection of the forest.
Today’s green belt ;Ando Kpomey spans over 100 hectares and abounds with multiple varieties of trees and plants. It is cool in all seasons in this village, àgrave; because of the micro-climate created there. The air is pure and the childrenfall less ill, compared to neighboring communities. Farmland gets more water than other localities.
In 2009, the village that created ;é an association, has submitted a project for the sustainable management of the community forest to the Microfinance Program of the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Thanks to the credit obtained, the community was able to diversify its activities and chose snail farming and beekeeping. Part of the income contributes to; improving the living conditions of members of the association and their families (around 500 people).
Ando Kpomey’s initiative has had a positive impact on the development of environmental policies in Togo. The ministry responsible for of the environment has adopted a participatory approach to sustainable forest management that encourages the management of protected areas by local populations.
The community d’Ando Kpomey welcomes and shares his experience with other communities and peasant organizations in Togo and Burkina Faso. The efforts of the said village have been awarded the Equator Prize for Biodiversity; (2012) . Environmental activists, research teachers and students of environmental sciences and especially tourists do not miss the opportunity to visit the forest.
But, since the outbreak of COVID -19, note:
For all of Togo:< /span>
On the social level: the increase unemployment, the onset or worsening of hunger, the deterioration of social relations due to fear of others and the stigmatization of infected people, the phobia of relapse for people cured of disease, reduced well-being;
In economic terms: the loss of income, decline in production activities, reduction in public finances at large; cause of declining government revenue and rising government debt.
Environmentally: visual nuisance to cause of the proliferation in the streets of used face masks, the neglect of environmental protection activities, the current emergency being the use of resources for the fight against the coronavirus
For the village of Ando Kpomey and its forest, specifically:
It has been established that income from forest visitation rights has become non-existent, in fact, the suspension of tourism today constitutes a glaring shortfall for the treasury of the Village Development Committee of Ando Kpomey. Those who came there for research purposes or to acquire any experience are no longer legion. If no action is taken , the forest of Andokpomey may no longer arouse interest and, thus, lose whole sections of its biodiversity.
These disastrous consequences call for responses from both public authorities, the private sector and civil society. the disease in Togo, it is important to reinforce the measures taken by the government, in particular the preventive measures. ;a support project for the conservation of the natural heritage of the community of Ando Kpomey.
The project could be made available at will.