LEI has made a major contribution to the EU project VINVAL (Impact of changing land cover on the production and ecological functions of vegetation in inland valleys in West Africa). In this project LEI joined forces with Alterra, ZEF from Germany, Timesis from Italy, CRI from Ghana and INERA from Burkina Faso. The project started in 2001 and was recently completed.
The aim was to analyse the effects of changing land cover on agricultural production and ecological functions of vegetation in Burkina Faso and Ghana. In order to measure the effects (soil condition, vegetation and household income), three different areas were chosen.
In the first year, LEI and its African partners conducted a 'Diagnostic Rapid Appraisal'. In a short space of time they collected as much information as possible and brought researchers and farmers together. LEI subsequently focused on measuring the economic effects (such as the household income of farmers, the value of natural products which were collected in natural areas, etc.). For this purpose around 150 farming families were monitored over two years. Furthermore, LEI developed a method involving the 'land use planning tool' which has resulted in participation of the main parties involved in land cover decisions. This tool was applied in Burkina Faso. Using participative techniques, representatives from various groups of the population (men, women, the elderly, ethnic groups) were involved. With these parties, the priorities and decision criteria were discovered and processed in the planning model, where they were combined with scientific data. The results were discussed with those directly involved, researchers and local policy-makers (such as the Haute Commissaire de Kompienga).
An important result of the project is realising the difficulty of distinguishing between natural and agricultural areas. There is a gradual transition and farmers collect many natural products (game, medicines, firewood) from their own agricultural land.