Burkina Faso
Nutritional seeds of Parkia biglobosa (Soumbala) on sale in a village market, Burkina Faso
Many of the vulnerable species in West Africa are ecologically located in the semi-dry buffer zones between the Sahara desert in the North and the sub-humid, tropical forests in the South. The MSB project is supporting collection and conservation of seeds of West African Sudano-Sahelian wild species. This is a collaborative project between Burkina Faso and Mali, and RBG Kew, UK, and aims at achieving seed collection and conservation of about 800 important wild species by 2010, which will represent about 25-30% of the region's flora. The programme is making a major contribution to meeting the objectives of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and, at the same time, it is helping to meet objectives of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy in both partner countries.
Burkina team preparing herbarium specimens in the field
Since the signing of the Access and Benefit-Sharing Agreement with Burkina Faso in 2000, the MSB project has supported the Centre National de Semences Forestières (CNSF) in Ouagadougou, in developing ex situ conservation capacity through research training, networking and provision of essential equipment. RBG Kew staff have trained partners in the use of research and conservation equipment, and help design country priority seed research and long term conservation programmes.
In the framework of the project, CNSF staff have participated in training at the MSB facilities and research relations have also developed. The MSB has hosted CNSF scientists investigating Vitellaria paradoxa seed storage longevity, and also working on the reproductive biology and genetic diversity of Parkia biglobosa. Both species are important, socio-economic pan-west African species. The results will mainly guide seed collections and handling at CNSF and in the region. The MSB project has helped CNSF to diversify its activities. It is now contributing to the restoration of the Sahel in northern Burkina through planting of herbaceous species such as Andropogon gayanus. This is a completely new set of activities of the institute generated by the MSB programme in Burkina.
