CARTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACT ON THE FAYA FOREST IN MALI

Abstract

Mali's forests have been subjected to extensive human pressures in recent decades. This Sahel country where 90% of the population lives on 30% of the territory is very dependent on forest resources through multiple activities. Malian forest resources are subject to several pressures, including: agricultural clearing, cumulative consumption of wood and charcoal, harvesting of wood and services, pastoralism, hunting, bush fires (early and late) which devastate more than 100 000 ha per year and also for reasons of traditional medicine. The protected forest of Faya, which covers an area of 80 000 ha, located 40 km from Bamako, has not escaped this destruction despite its status as a protected forest and the new management plan which only grants the right to use by residents of the Faya in terms of forest exploitation. The methodology was based on the realization of the collections and documentary analysis, the analyzes of cartographic and figure, the realization of the qualitative surveys, the treatment and the analysis of the data. The study revealed to us that the Faya forest has been under enormous pressure and that the gallery forests and wooded savannah are turning into shrub savannah. This article aims to analyze the pressures on plant formations of Faya in recent decades.