In Côte d’Ivoire, Mount Peko has more than 6200 hectares of forest in
a state of degradation. This was revealed by Colonel Moses Zanou,
regional director of the Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves (OIPR).
According to the official, whose statements were reported by
agrici.net, most of these forest areas have been replaced by
agricultural areas especially dedicated to cocoa, coffee, and other
crops.
These comments came a few months after the revelations of the United
Nations, which estimates that 59% of the park, about 20,000 hectares,
have been turned into cocoa plantations. These areas are occupied by
some 28,000 people who produce annually 10,000 tons of cocoa and
generate 17.3 billion CFA francs. Moses Zanou recalled that these
crops are detrimental to the fauna of the place (buffalo, elephant,
etc.) which are forced to take refuge on the mountainside.
Given that Mount Péko has been essentially occupied since the
beginning of the Ivorian crisis by Burkina Faso, the governments of
Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have reached an agreement on their
evacuation. However, carrying out the terms of this agreement has been
undermined by the coup that overthrew the Compaoré regime.