Côte d'Ivoire/ The project to preserve the Guibouo forest as a voluntary nature reserve launched in the presence of UNESCO

The project to preserve and develop the 'Mabrotchètchè' forest as a 30-hectare voluntary nature reserve, thanks to the will of its owner, an executive from the village of Guibouo, 15 km from Gagnoa (on the Gagnoa-Guéyo axis), who has dedicated it to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was officially launched on Tuesday February 04, 2025 in the said village, in the presence of the Ivorian National Commission for UNESCO.

"I donated the forest to UNESCO to preserve its heritage, because people are passing through, and the forest is there to be preserved", said the donor, Pr Any Désiré, a teacher and researcher at the Alassane Ouattara University in Bouaké, and president of the NGO Agir pour l'écologie.Any Désiré, teacher-researcher at Alassane Ouattara University in Bouaké, and president of the NGO Agir pour l'écologie. He indicated that he could do no better than to entrust this heritage to UNESCO to ensure the forest's long-term survival. "The right thing to do is to give it an international dimension," he said.

"My children need the forest, and that's why I'm preserving it, because if we destroyed everything, the children wouldn't have and wouldn't see a forest," the academic insisted.

According to project coordinator Pr Soro Kafana, research director at the Centre de recherche en écologie (CRE) at Nangui Abrogoua University, the project comprises three stages that are necessary to strengthen the management of the 'Mabrotchètchè' forest, with a view to giving it conservation status.

First, inform all the administrative authorities concerned by the site, and raise awareness among the local population. Secondly, to succeed in demarcating and marking the boundaries, by erecting signs, while hoping that the land certificate will be available. The third stage consists of undertaking a number of studies and research projects, including inventories. It will also involve demonstrating the site's value in terms of flora and fauna, and estimating its socio-economic value.

At the end of this work, a team from the CRE, which is UNESCO's focal institution in Côte d'Ivoire for the 'MAB' (Man and the Biosphere) programme, and a team of experts from the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) will carry out a study of the site.man and the biosphere) and the World Heritage Convention (natural sites), will be on site periodically until December 12, 2025, announced Pr Soro. The aim, he said, will be to monitor and evaluate the site's state of conservation.

The information obtained will strengthen the studies, as well as the site's registration file, which will be submitted to the Ministry of the Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, through its Directorate for the Protection of the Environment. through its Direction de la protection de la nature (DPN), for final approval and official transformation of the protected site into a voluntary nature reserve, explained the CRE research director.

Once granted, the site "officially" becomes a protected site. "From the moment it is dedicated to UNESCO, UNESCO has an interest in it", insisted the teacher-researcher, predicting that UNESCO would not come to the site until it had been declared a protected site.UNESCO will not be coming to monitor the site, which will be done by the village community itself.

"All we'll be doing is giving them a few tips and advice on sustainable management, right up to the development of the site through ecotourism, for example", he said.

The sub-prefect of Gagnoa, Soumahoro Moussa, who attended the ceremony, urged the people of Guibouo to take care of the 'Mabrotchè forest.Mabrotchètchè' forest, which they have voluntarily dedicated to the international community through UNESCO.

Source: www.aip.ci/152169/