Résumé executif

General objectives

• Increase knowledge about the botany and ethnobotany of African palms, almost ten utilitarian species (raffias, rattans, doums, etc.) with a view to their multiplication (nursery, domestication, reintroduction, etc.) and their long-term conservation in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Benin;
• Explore and extend this program to other poorly investigated countries in the region: Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, islands in the Gulf of Guinea;

Specific integrated objectives

• Implement an active management policy for non-wood forest products and materials transformed, linked to these heritage species;
• Promote in a socio-educational way the botanical gardens of the region and promote the creation of nurseries for the multiplication of endangered useful palm species and “palm gardens”; interactive and integrated collections (such as the Divo Palm Garden – Côte d’Ivoire).
• Popularize and publish locally the data collected, in particular in the form of media teaching and training manuals for the active conservation of these species (sustainable management of biotopes, multiplication and domestication of endangered useful species, sustainable production / extraction of raw materials, etc.) and integrated environmental education. Promote quality craftsmanship for export trading.