The “W” Park of Niger, which straddles the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger, together with the Arly and Pendjari Parks, is one of the largest contiguous protected areas in Africa. The Park’s name is derived from the angular “W” shape formed by the river Niger as it flows through the northern foothills of the Atakora mountains, a mountain range situated in Benin. Having been classified a wildlife sanctuary in 1926, between the years 1952 and 1953 it became a complex of protected areas defined as both classified State forests and total wildlife reserves, and achieved the permanent status of National Park in each of the three countries concerned, in accordance with French legislation.
During the colonial era, the park was managed by a single decision-making body based in Dakar. However, from 1960 onward, the moment each country acceded to independence, it individually tended to withdraw into itself to concentrate on its own particular part of the complex. During the 1980s, however, given the fluctuating boundaries of the park, and limited means allocated by the authorities involved, the three countries set up a process of cooperation that was made official in 1984 by the signing of a regional agreement for the prohibition of poaching. This agreement was to be the starting point of an inter-state collaboration destined to better conserve the biological diversity and the integrity of the ecosystems within the park complex of the “W,” Arly, and Pendjari Parks.
Unfortunately, and as has been shown in this case study, looking back 15 years, and in spite of the firm intentions initially promulgated by the States concerned, management of the “W” Park has been confined to a more national approach to development and surveillance than to joint efforts having been made. The reasons for this lack of success in combining efforts as had been intended in the 1984 agreement can be found, to a great extent, in the deficiencies existing within the text itself, and in the incapacity of each park’s management system to assume its responsibility.
However, despite the fact that this first inter-state agreement was little put into practice, the three countries have remained in contact, and this has enabled them to negotiate and set up a regional transboundary management program for the protected areas in the three countries. The length of time required, about 15 years, for the coming to fruition of this project is proof of how difficult it is to design and set up a consensual management system for a transboundary area that is as big as the “W” Park complex in Niger.
Thus this case study on the “W” Park proves how important it is to overcome or find ways around the real constraints encountered in the setting up of an efficient and sustainable system of transboundary management of protected areas. These constraints may be political indecision, the insufficient financial, institutional and organizational means available for park management, the lack of synchronization of the legal framework, the absence of development plans and information systems, of ecological follow-up at a regional level, and also the unwillingness of sponsors who are supposed to support collective State initiatives.