[fr] Introduction. La Convention du patrimoine mondial est l’unique traité international qui promeut l’exceptionnalité universelle des sites. Depuis son adoption en 1972, les conflits armés ont conduit à l’inscription de huit aires protégées d’Afrique subsaharienne sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial en péril. En 2023, l’insécurité persiste dans six sites naturels africains et menace cinq autres sites de la région sur les quarante-deux que compte la Liste du patrimoine mondial. Les conséquences pour ces sites se traduisent par la prolifération d’activités illégales, des pertes en biodiversité et en vies humaines, un changement dans les systèmes de gouvernance ainsi que de nouvelles dynamiques communautaires. Cette situation est préoccupante et nous documentons l’état de conservation et les systèmes de gouvernance de ces aires protégées affectées par l’insécurité.
Littérature. Une recherche a été réalisée en exploitant Google Scholar et Scopus (sur la période 2000-2023) et les rapports officiels (depuis l’inscription des sites jusqu’en 2024) soumis par les pays sur l’état de conservation des sites naturels africains du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. Les thématiques scientifiques qui abordent les déterminants des conflits armés affectant les sites naturels africains du patrimoine mondial ainsi que les liens entre la qualité de la gouvernance des aires protégées et l’apparition et/ou la résolution des conflits armés ne sont en effet pas assez abordés dans la littérature scientifique. La compréhension de l’origine et des fondements de ces conflits armés implique une analyse approfondie de plusieurs déterminants liés à l’existence de ces aires protégées ainsi qu’une évaluation de l’efficacité des systèmes de gouvernance, qui est rarement disponible.
Conclusions. Des lacunes persistent en termes de connaissances scientifiques sur les sites naturels du patrimoine mondial situés en zone de conflits armés en Afrique subsaharienne. Plusieurs enjeux au sujet de ces aires protégées situées en zone de conflits armés restent à explorer, et nous suggérons pour de futures recherches que les thématiques suivantes soient prioritairement abordées : (i) l’analyse des déterminants politico-religieux à l’origine des conflits armés contemporains qui affectent des aires protégées en Afrique et (ii) les facteurs qui limitent la résolution des conflits armés qui affectent les sites naturels du patrimoine mondial en Afrique. [en] Introduction. The World Heritage Convention is the only global treaty promoting sites’ universal exceptionality. Since its adoption in 1972, armed conflicts have led to the inclusion of eight protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa on the List of World Heritage in Danger. In 2023, insecurity persisted in six African natural sites and threatened five in the region out of the forty-two sites on the World Heritage List. The consequences for these sites are a proliferation of illegal activities, loss of biodiversity and human life, changes in governance systems, and new community dynamics. This is a worrying situation, and we are documenting the state of conservation and governance systems of these protected areas affected by armed conflict.
Literature. A search was carried out using Google Scholar and Scopus (for the period 2000-2023) and official reports (from the inscription of the site until 2024) submitted by countries on the state of conservation of natural UNESCO World Heritage sites in Africa. The scientific literature does not sufficiently address the determinants of armed conflicts affecting African natural World Heritage sites or the connections between the quality of governance of Protected Areas and the emergence and/or resolution of armed conflicts. Understanding the origins and foundations of these armed conflicts requires an in-depth analysis of several determinants linked to the existence of these protected areas and an assessment of the effectiveness of the governance systems, which is rarely available.
Conclusions. There are still gaps in scientific knowledge about natural World Heritage sites located in zones of armed conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Several issues concerning these Protected Areas located in zones of armed conflict remain to be explored. We suggest that the following themes be addressed as a priority for future research: (i) the analysis of the sociocultural and religious determinants behind contemporary armed conflicts affecting Protected Areas in Africa and (ii) the factors that limit the resolution of armed conflicts that affect natural World Heritage sites in Africa.
Lhoest, Simon ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT
Hugé Jean; Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Open University of The Netherlands ; Systems Ecology & Resource Management Lab, Biology Department (DBO), Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgique) ; Ecology & Biodiversity, Biology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) ; Centre for Environmental Science, University of Hasselt (Belgium)
Vermeulen, Cédric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Gestion des ressources forestières
Language :
French
Title :
Conflits armés et gouvernance des sites naturels du patrimoine mondial en Afrique (synthèse bibliographique)
Alternative titles :
[en] Armed conflicts and governance of natural World Heritage sites in Africa (literature review)
Publication date :
12 September 2024
Journal title :
Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Société et Environnement
ISSN :
1370-6233
eISSN :
1780-4507
Publisher :
Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux, Gembloux, Belgium
Adams W.M. & Hulme D., 2001. If community conservation is the answer in Africa, what is the question? Oryx, 35(3), 193-200, doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00183.x
Archer E. et al., eds, 2018. The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa. Bonn, Germany: Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3236177
Bennett N.J. & Satterfield T., 2018. Environmental governance: a practical framework to guide design, evaluation, and analysis. Conserv. Lett., 11(6), e12600, doi.org/10.1111/conl.12600
Borrini-Feyerabend G. & Sandwith T., 2003. From guns and fences to paternalism to partnerships: the slow disentangling of Africa’s protected areas. Conserv. Partnerships Afr., 13(1), 1-5.
Borrini-Feyerabend G. et al., 2013. Sharing power: A global guide to collaborative management of natural resources. London, New York: Routledge.
Borrini-Feyerabend G. et al., 2014. Gouvernance des aires protégées: de la compréhension à l’action. Gland, Suisse: IUCN.
Brondizio E.S. et al., eds, 2019. Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Bonn, Germany: IPBES secretariat, doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3831673
Bruner A.G., Gullison R.E., Rice R.E. & Da Fonseca G.A., 2001. Effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity. Science, 291(5501), 125-128, doi. org/10.1126/science.291.5501.125
Daskin J.H. & Pringle R.M., 2018. Warfare and wildlife declines in Africa’s protected areas. Nature, 553(7688), 328-332, doi.org/10.1038/nature25194
De Blas D.E., Ruiz-Pérez M. & Vermeulen C., 2011. Management conflicts in Cameroonian community forests. Ecol. Soc., 16(1), doi.org/10.5751/es-03845-160108
De Merode E. et al., 2007. The impact of armed conflict on protected-area efficacy in Central Africa. Biol. Lett., 3(3), 299-301, doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0010
Debonnet G. & Hillman-Smith K., 2004. Supporting protected areas in a time of political turmoil: the case of World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Parks, 14(1), 9-16.
DeGeorges P.A. & Reilly B.K., 2009. The realities of community based natural resource management and biodiversity conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sustainability, 1(3), 734-788, doi.org/10.3390/su1030734
Díaz S. et al., 2018. Assessing nature’s contributions to people. Science, 359(6373), 270-272, doi.org/10.1126/science.aap8826
Dozon J.P., 2006. Une décolonisation en trompe-l’oeil. In: Culture post-coloniale 1961-2006. Paris: Éd. Autrement, 195-201.
Dudley N., 2008. Lignes directrices pour l’application des catégories de gestion aux aires protégées. Gland, Suisse: IUCN.
Duffy R., 2014. Waging a war to save biodiversity: the rise of militarized conservation. Int. Aff., 90(4), 819-834, doi. org/10.1111/1468-2346.12142
Geslin A., 2011. Aires protégées transfrontalières et parcs pour la paix: entre géopolitique des conflits et protection transnationale de la diversité bio-culturelle. In: Exploitation des ressources naturelles et protection des droits de l’homme. Paris: Éd. Pedone, 105-120.
Gitta E., 2016. The role of cultural leaders in conflict resolution in the Rwenzori Region, Uganda. PhD thesis: Makerere University, Kampala (Ouganda).
Glew L. & Hudson M.D., 2007. Gorillas in the midst: the impact of armed conflict on the conservation of protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Oryx, 41(2), 140-150, doi. org/10.1017/s0030605307001755
Hammill E. et al., 2016. Factoring attitudes towards armed conflict risk into selection of protected areas for conservation. Nat. Commun., 7(1), 1-9, doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11042
Hanson T. et al., 2009. Warfare in biodiversity hotspots. Conserv. Biol., 23(3), 578-587, doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01166.x
Houehounha D.H.M. et al., 2024. Conservation comeback in Central African Republic’s Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (commentary). Mongabay-Conservation news.
Hsiao E., 2020. Protecting protected areas in Bello: learning from institutional design and conflict resilience in the Greater Virunga and Kidepo landscapes. Goettingen J. Int. Law, 10, 67-110, doi.org/10.3249/1868-1581-10-1-hsiao
Hugon P., 2006. Conflits armés, insécurité et trappes à pauvreté en Afrique. Afr. Contemporaine, 2, 33-47.
Hugon P., 2009. Le rôle des ressources naturelles dans les conflits armés africains. Hérodote, 3, 63-79.
IUCN, 2021. Conflict and conservation. Nature in a globalised world. Report No.1. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
Konrad T., 2015. Governance of protected areas in West Africa-The case of the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) complex in Benin and Burkina Faso. PhD thesis: Universität Würzburg (Germany).
Lhoest S., Linchant J., Gore M.L. & Vermeulen C., 2022. Conservation science and policy should care about violent extremism. Global Environ. Change, 76, 102590, doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102590
Lindsey P. et al., 2021. Attracting investment for Africa’s protected areas by creating enabling environments for collaborative management partnerships. Biol. Conserv., 255, 108979, doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.108979
Matose F. & Watts S., 2010. Towards community-based forest management in Southern Africa: do decentralization experiments work for local livelihoods? Environ. Conserv., 37, 310-319, doi.org/10.1017/s0376892910000639
Matthew R.A., Halle M. & Switzer J., eds, 2002. Conserving the peace: resources, livelihoods and security. Winnipeg, Canada: International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1-27.
McNeely J.A., 2003. Conserving forest biodiversity in times of violent conflict. Oryx, 37(2), 142-152, doi. org/10.1017/s0030605303000334
Mengue-Medou C., 2002. Les aires protégées en Afrique: perspectives pour leur conservation. VertigO, 3(1), doi. org/10.4000/vertigo.4126
Mohan G. & Stokke K., 2000. Participatory development and empowerment: the dangers of localism. Third World Q., 21(2), 247-268, doi.org/10.1080/01436590050004346
Morrison T.H. et al., 2020. Political dynamics and governance of World Heritage ecosystems. Nat. Sustainability, 3, 947-955, doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0568-8
Mosimane A.W. & Silva J.A., 2015. Local governance institutions, CBNRM, and benefit-sharing systems in Namibian conservancies. J. Sustainable Dev., 8(2), 99-112, doi.org/10.5539/jsd.v8n2p99
Mukherjee N. et al., 2018. Comparison of techniques for eliciting views and judgements in decision-making. Methods Ecol. Evol., 9(1), 54-63, doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.12940
Negret P.J. et al., 2019. Emerging evidence that armed conflict and coca cultivation influence deforestation patterns. Biol. Conserv., 239, 108176, doi.org/10.1016/j. biocon.2019.07.021
Pettersson T. & Wallensteen P., 2015. Armed conflicts, 1946–2014. J. Peace Res., 52(4), 536-550, doi. org/10.1177/0022343314542076
Plumptre A.J., Masozera M. & Vedder A., 2012. The impact of civil war on the conservation of protected areas in Rwanda Washington, DC: Biodiversity Support Program.
Rechciński M., Tusznio J. & Grodzińska-Jurczak M., 2019. Protected area conflicts: a state-of-the-art review and a proposed integrated conceptual framework for reclaiming the role of geography. Biodivers. Conserv., 28(10), 2463-2498, doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01790-z
Ribot J.C., 2003. Democratic decentralization of natural resources. In: Beyond structural adjustment. The institutional context of African development. New York, NY, USA: Palgrave Macmillan, 159-182.
Ribot J.C., Lund J.F. & Treue T., 2010. Democratic decentralization in sub-Saharan Africa: its contribution to forest management, livelihoods, and enfranchisement. Environ. Conserv., 37, 35-44, doi.org/10.1017/s0376892910000329
Rother E.T., 2007. Systematic literature review X narrative review. Acta Paulista Enfermagem, 20, v-vi, doi. org/10.1590/S0103-21002007000200001
Scholte P. et al., 2022. Conservation overstretch and long-term decline of wildlife and tourism in the Central African savannas. Conserv. Biol., 36(2), e13860, doi. org/10.1111/cobi.13860
Shambaugh J., Oglethorpe J. & Ham R., 2001. The trampled grass. Mitigating the impacts of armed conflicts on the environment. Washington, DC: Biodiversity Support Program.
Simpson F.O.L. & Pellegrini L., 2023. Militarized conservation: insecurity for some, security for others? (commentary). Mongabay, https://news.mongabay. com/2023/06/militarized-conservation-insecurity-for-some-security-for-others-commentary/, (10/06/23).
Solomon N. et al., 2018. Environmental impacts and causes of conflict in the Horn of Africa: a review. Earth Sci. Rev., 177, 284-290, doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.11.016
Timko J. & Satterfield T., 2008. Criteria and indicators for evaluating social equity and ecological integrity in national parks and protected areas. Nat. Areas J., 28(3), 307-319, https://doi.org/10.3375/0885-8608(2008)28[307:caifes]2.0.co;2
Triplet P., 2009. Manuel de gestion des aires protégées d’Afrique francophone. Paris: Awely.
Tubiana J., 2019. Aires protégées, conflits et insécurité: comprendre la situation et définir des règles. Papaco.
UNEP-WCMC, 2016. L’état de la biodiversité en Afrique: examen à mi-parcours des progrès réalisés vers l’atteinte des objectifs d’Aichi. Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC.
UNESCO, 2021. Centre du patrimoine mondial, https://whc.unesco.org/fr/soc/4023/, (04/09/2024).
UNESCO, 2024. Centre du patrimoine mondial, https://whc.unesco.org/fr/etatsparties/, (04/09/2024).
Williams B.A. et al., 2022. Reconsidering priorities for forest conservation when considering the threats of mining and armed conflict. Ambio, 51(9), 2007-2024, doi.org/10.1007/s13280-022-01724-0
Worboys G.L. et al., eds, 2015. Protected area governance and management. Canberra: Anu Press.
WWF, 2020. Living Planet Report 2020-Bending the curve of biodiversity loss. Gland, Switzerland: WWF.
