Economic importance of fuelwod in family resources is not a sufficient trigger factor for farmers to restore their parklands in south-western Niger

In Niger, literature from the years 1990-2020 shows a rapid regression in the surface areas of forest, an abundant regeneration of trees in some cultivated areas, and a sharp increase in the consumption of wood energy in cities and the countryside, with this wood increasingly coming from parklands. This study, carried out in 2015-2019 on the outskirts of Niamey, aimed to assess the economic benefits for households of parkland fuelwood production and the ecological state of the parklands. Surveys were carried out among 90 farmers to assess the contribution of fuelwood to their household income. Semi-structured interviews with focus groups were conducted in 3 villages to determine farmers' strategies and practices. The inventory of the trees in the parklands was carried out in 3 villages (5000 ha per village). Most rural households have an income diversification strategy to cope with the vagaries of agricultural production. Among these revenues, the sale of fuelwood occupies on average a small place (4 to 10%). To explain their reduced use of assisted natural regeneration (ANR) for the restoration of parklands, farmers point to the difficulty in exploiting wood pruned from their trees due to conflicts of use with livestock herders, taxes and fines from environmental services agencies. Trees and shrubs in parklands have a low diversity (24 species) and low density (5-8 trees/ha). The low density of young trees indicates that during the past decade, there have been fewer efforts to enrich parklands compared to the 1980s, when ANR projects were first implemented. The 3 parklands studied are in the process of becoming severely degraded because dead old trees are no longer replaced through ANR. The Economic importance of fuelwod in family resources is not a sufficient trigger factor for farmers to restore their parklands but could support village's interest for sustainable management of natural forests. These results should serve to alert public authorities and aid organizations that research and development actions must be launched to reverse this deterioration trend in parklands.