Bingerville, Côte d’Ivoire
City population: 91319
Duration: 2019 – 2019
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: 80000 m2
Type of area: Residential
Last updated: October 2021

Ensuring that Ivorians, from an early age, pay attention to the environment, it is one of the Ivorian government’s many environmental objectives. As such, in 2019, the Ministry of Water and Forests initiated a project in the Mamie Fêtai Highschool of the city of Bingerville. The initiative is part of a bigger project that aims at raising awareness and tries to engage the Ivorian school in the recovery of the forest cover of the country. Ivory Coast is a delicate case in West Africa, from a forestry point of view. Since 1960 the country lost more than 80 percent of its forests, mainly to cocoa production and agricultural practices (1,3)

Bingerville plant 2
https://jeunes.ci/actualites/engagement-social/environnement-plus-de-2000-arbres-plantes-au-lycee-mamie-fetai-de

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Green playgrounds and school grounds
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Large urban parks or forests

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental education

Focus

Creation of new green areas

Project objectives

The main goals of the intervention were: 1. Implement a policy of preservation, rehabilitation and extension of forests, especially concerning the component of forest recovery and of the environment. 2.Contribute to improving the living and working conditions of students and teachers by creating natural capital that can be valued over time by students and their parents in the school environment (wood, fruit, etc.). 3. Sustainably and effectively reverse the phenomenon of deforestation, through the process of environmental education 4. Raise awareness regarding climate change and its connection with human activity 5. Sequester carbon in plantations and fight against the greenhouse effect by taking steps to prepare the registration of the project with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of the UN-REDD program through the sale of credit carbon. (2,3,4,8)

Implementation activities

Prior to 2019, the high school requested from the Ministry of Water and Forests an environmental project. On the 3rd of May 2019, the Minister of Water and Forests alongside high school personnel and students started to plant the trees. The ceremony ended with a tribute to the eminent professor of botany, Aké Assi, who died in 2014, as a reminder that preserving the environment is everyone's task. (1,4)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change mitigation:

  • Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
  • Raise public awareness of behaviours, lifestyle and cultural changes with mitigation potential

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Create new habitats
  • Protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect species

Main beneficiaries

  • National-level government
  • Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
  • Young people and children

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • National government
  • Public sector institution

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The project was initiated by the high school Mamie Fetai of Bingerville alongside the Ministry of Water and Forests of the Ivory Coast. The high school provided the land and expertise and the Ministry provided the funds (1)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? Yes (The initiative is part of a national strategy of forestry called "One school, 5 hectares of trees" initiated by the government in 2013. The intervention was seen as part of this strategy. The “1 school, 5ha of forest” project is a new step in the national strategy for improving and securing reforestation. Led by Commander Apata Yavo Nicolas, Water and Forestry Engineer, the project aims to promote forest plantations in schools and to promote sustainable development to meet the educational, material and financial needs of educational communities throughout the territory nationally. In the long term, the project will make it possible to reconstitute 6,000 ha of forest plantations in 5 years, for 1,200 schools. The strategy and the project are part of National Plan for Reforestation and the National Development Plan 2012-2015 (5,7,8))
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Less than €10,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public national budget

Type of funding

  • Earmarked public budget

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of land
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Enhanced carbon sequestration
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased number of species present

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Education
  • Increased knowledge of locals about local nature

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Source link (no date), Environnement: Plus de 2000 arbres plantés au lycée Mamie Fetai de Bingerville, available at Source link (accessed 16.09.2021)
2. Linfodrome (2019), Reconstitution de la forêt ivoirienne: Le projet « Une école, 5 ha de forêt » lancé au Lycée Mamie Fêtai de Bingerville, available at Source link (accessed 16.09.2021)
3. Source link (2019), Côte d’Ivoire: un ministre et ses agents financent le planting de 2 100 arbres dans un lycée, available at Source link (accessed 16.09.2021)
4. Ministry of Water and Forests (2019), CÔTE D'IVOIRE: UN MINISTRE ET SES AGENTS FINANCENT LE PLANTING DE 2 100 ARBRES DANS UN LYCÉE, available at Source link (accessed 16.09.2021)
5. BabiIMO blog (2019), Plus de 2000 arbres plantés au lycée Mamie Fetai de Bingerville, available at Source link (accessed 16.09.2021)
6. Ministry of Water and Forests (2021), 1 école, 5ha de forêt, available at Source link (accessed 16.09.2021)
7. Ivory Coast Government (2014), REBOISEMENT: LE MINISTERE DES EAUX ET FORETS SENSIBILISE LES ACTEURS DU SYSTEME EDUCATIF A LA PRESERVATION DU PATRIMOINE FORESTIER, available at Source link, (accessed 16.09.2021)
8. Atelier de validation du Rapport d’évaluation des ressources Forestières de la CEDEAO , Dakar, Sénégal : 30 Septembre – 02
Octobre 2015, 1 école, 5ha de forêt - presentation de projet (2015), available at Source link, (accessed 16.09.2021)
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the UNA global extension project funded by the British Academy.