The Greenways of Bobo-Dioulasso

Creation of new green areas

The goals of the intervention are as described below: 1. To restore, protect and manage biodiversity in situ, by promoting self-maintenance by maintaining minimum living and circulation conditions necessary for the survival of species. 2. To increase the environmental resilience of green grids to the climate, while improving people's living conditions by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving people's resilience through increasing incomes and diversifying food sources. 3. To establish green grids, from a climate perspective, as a model of development and management governed by a municipal by-law. The greenways distinguish themselves by relative connectivity with the periurban forests. Greenways are subjected to the regulations applicable to green spaces, which allow for their public management and preserve them from seizure. 4. To set up a Municipal Unit for the Management of Climate Change and to promote productive multiple uses of green spaces in order to contribute to beneficial impacts on the maintenance of urban biodiversity and other ecosystem services. 5. To contribute to (i) the reduction of temperature and run-off by mitigating the urban heat island effect and serving as “green lungs” for the city; and (ii) the improvement of the resilience of the population by increasing and diversifying their food and income sources. (1,3)

The initiative was realised in several stages. In stage 1: A technical workshop was organised in June 2012. These exchanges with the member of the Municipal Council, the representatives of the administrative authorities, as well as the Directors of municipal or deconcentrated technical services and representatives of the local networks on environment protection and climate change have led to the choice of agroforestry and multifunctional use of greenways as a Territorial Project. In stage 2 : A participatory territorial diagnosis on Urban and Periurban Agriculture and Forestry (UPAF) in Bobo-Dioulasso from July to October 2012 was conducted. In stage 3: An exploratory study on the social feasibility of the development of the selected greenway was carried out. The purpose of this study was to identify local stakeholders' interest in the project and to define the conditions for social acceptability and the success of the proposed activity. In stage 4: Implementation of the initiative through participatory management of the selected greenway and coordination of planned activities (March 2013-February 2014). The multifunctional and productive exploitation of the green network in sector 33 (part of the city) had to respond to a sustainable approach aimed at improving the lives of inhabitants of the sector and the city and four dimensions have been associated with it: environmental, scientific, social and political. (2)

• Local government/Municipality
• Citizens or community groups
• Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)