"Forest is integral to life" : people-forest relations in the lower river region, the Gambia
Darboe, Sarata (Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics)
Manneh, Lamin (Department of Parks and Wildlife Management)
Stryamets, Nataliya (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. School for Forest Management)
Prūse, Baiba (Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics)
Pieroni, Andrea (University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo)
Sõukand, Renata (Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics)
Mattalia, Giulia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	Introduction: Forests play a crucial role in the lives of millions of people worldwide by providing material and non-material contributions. Despite forests' paramount importance from ecological, economic, and cultural perspectives, the long-term relationship between forests and local communities living in their proximity is often an undervalued contribution to our understanding of local ecological knowledge systems and forest changes. Methods: We studied the interrelationships between the Mandinka peoples and forests in an understudied area of West Africa, the Gambia's Lower River Region (LRR). Through 35 semi-structured interviews, we documented the forests' contributions to local Mandinka peoples and their perception of forest changes. We also used geographic information systems (GIS software) for remote sensing satellite imagery to establish a baseline for these complex connections and changes. Results: This research revealed the crucial importance of the forest's contributions to Mandinka communities andspecifically to their psychological well-being. In addition, the interviewees revealed how ongoing socio-economic changes are affecting the human-forest relationship and possibly eroding the local ethnoforestry knowledge in the LRR of the Gambia. The most common forest contributions are those that provide material goods, serving as the driving force in connecting people with the forest, while non-material contributions are eroding due to complex socio-economic changes. Major socio-economic changes are also believed to drive the shift from dense forest to mixed forest and grassland. Discussion: In line with the state of the art, the knowledge and perception of changes documented in this article underline the quintessential need to include local communities' views in shaping forest management, in order to better fine-tune the strategies to safeguard biocultural diversity across forest areas.
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Community forest management ; Ethnobiology ; Ethnoforestry ; IPLC ; Nature contributions to people ; West Africa
Published in:	Frontiers in forests and global change, Vol. 6 (October 2023) , art. 1181013, ISSN 2624-893X

DOI: 10.3389/ffgc.2023.1181013

12 p, 991.2 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles