The government of Ivory Coast has launched the second phase of the Forestry Investment Project (PIF2) that seeks to conserve and increase the forest stock through an agroforestry programme.
PIF2 will be implemented in the south-western part of Ivory Coast, particularly in the districts of Bas-Sassandra, Gôh-Djiboua, Montagnes and Sassandra-Marahoué. It will receive a 143million euros funding from the World Bank.
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Agroforestry programme
The agroforestry programme according to Laurent Tchagba, the Ivorian Minister of Water and Forests, covers 300,000 hectares of degraded classified forests through an intensive reforestation strategy covering 20,000 hectares of forest, as well as improving the livelihoods of the population.
The program will aid the government in meeting their goal of increasing forest cover to 20% from 9.2% by 2030. In the long term, the project will make it possible to increase the number of hectares of forest from 2.97 million to 6 million throughout the country.
Phase in works on the project began in 2018 and saw reforestation activities carried out in the centre of the country and within the Taï National Park, which is part of the Taï-Grebo-Sapo forest complex. This phased aimed to increase public and private investment in the conservation and safeguarding of nature, as well as respect for the rights of indigenous people and local communities.
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Recently the Ivorian branch of BGFI Bank recently mobilised civil society to plant 300 Terminalia mentale trees with 20-metre high trunks used as ornaments in gardens and parks in Duibo and Kpato in the town of Divo. In addition, the government also initiated a reforestation and biodiversity protection awareness campaign in Tiébissou in the Aries region where it has recorded a massive deforestation.
