Abstract EN:

The Niokolo-Koba National Park was created in 1926. In 1969, some villagers were expelled from the lands where they had lived and relocated on the fringe of the national park. That step was in keeping with a policy of "hard protection" of biodiversity and a disregard for the Malinke community, which was considered as incapable of managing the environment without degrading it. Nevertheless, what we call "nature" here is the result of a complex coevolution of the Malinke community and their environment, a coevolution of which plant formations are both an interface and a signature. The "savannahs" or dry forests result from a recolonizing by ligneous plants of previously cultivated areas, the diversity and physionomy of which are conditioned by bushfires and the duration of the fallow period. These are environments which have been "domesticated" over the years. The land use restrictions linked with the national park development and the limitations imposed by the preservation of the Diambour classified forest have brought about a shortage of arable land in some places. These conditions have forced the local populations to reduce the duration of the fallow period and have brought about the disappearance of fallow areas. The existence of protected areas generally leads to a transformation of attitudes, thereby modifying society's perception of the environment. All these factors have served to impoverish the forest, which has given way to unexceptional landscapes following the loss of several types of sudanian plant formations.