Agriculture, Pastoralism and Protected Areas: tensions et solutions for the future of rural communities in Central Africa and in the Sahel, 2-4 Oct 2024 N'Djamena (Chad)

From 23 to 25 January 2019, the international conference of Ministers in charge of defense, security and protected areas dedicated to the fight against poaching and other cross-border criminal activities was held. It adopted the “N'Djamena Declaration” on the need to guide regional transhumance dynamics by better taking into account the issues of security, wildlife management and the increasing degradation of ecosystems following climate change (COMIFAC, 2019). This series of political dialogue was recently enriched with the “Climate Chance Africa 2023” Summit, which resulted in a set of proposals to improve relations between conservation and agropastoralism in the central Africa and the Sahel.

The Conference aims at:

1. Presenting the state of knowledge on the causes and consequences of tensions between agropastoral activities and protected areas within the Sahelian and Sudano-Guinean ecosystems;
2. Reviewing the modes of governance and technical innovations making it possible to better manage the interface zones between agropastoral areas and protected areas, in order to promote the sustainable development of agropastoral territories;
3. Encouraging the establishment of consultation bodies between territorial governance stakeholders so that they can together build future scenarios integrating the demands of agropastoral households and environmental conservation issues.