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Use and conservation preferences for woody savanna species among the Gourounsi people in south-central Burkina Faso were investigated using a new informant-based valuation system. Two hundred informants from 10 villages evaluated the importance of 20 pre-selected woody species for nine different uses: edible fruits, vegetable sauce, construction, firewood, medicine, commerce, field trees, and conservation. The study identified eight key species: Parkia biglobosa, Vitellaria paradoxa, Tamarindus indica, Adansonia digitata, Vitex doniana, Detarium microcarpum, Bombax costatum, and Strychnos spinosa. They all had high commercial and nutritional value. The local knowledge about the selected woody species was similar between men and women, and between young and old, but it differed between villages. The results indicate that knowledge erosion does not take place among the Gourounsi, but considerable local differences exist. Conservation management should focus on the key species, and for these, assist...

The present study was conducted in five villages around the Nazinga Game Ranch, Burkina Faso. Fifty informants of the Gourounsi ethnic group were used. Eighty-one useful woody species were identified, out of a total of 110 woody species in the area. Woody plant use was quantified as: edible fruits (28 species), vegetable sauce (22 species), firewood (33 species), construction (29 species) and medicine (64 species and 167 remedies). Further, species accumulation curves were used to estimate that more than 650 remedies for medicine are used in the area. The community's knowledge of plants was analysed in relation to age, gender, village of residence and amount of intercultural visits. The knowledge pattern was remarkably uniform, with only two variations: (1) men generally identified more edible fruit trees than women, and (2) one village reported more firewood species than the other four villages. The informants had a variety of opinions concerning the availability of useful plants, but the majority found the availability to be fine and 47% of the informants searched for useable products in the savanna on a daily basis. No correlation was found between an informant's impression of useful products availability and his/her frequency of visits into the savanna. The results show that the Gourounsi people live in intimate relation with the savanna surrounding their villages. They are aware of the environment and are willing to learn and adopt new conservation practices.