Dynamiques de peuplement et modifications paysagères dans la zone rurale sud de la ville de Bonon entre 2000 et 2015 (Région de la Marahoué, Côte d'Ivoire).

Estimated at 15 million of hectares at the beginning of the 20th century, the surface of dense forests in Côte d'Ivoire was estimated at 2.7 million hectares at the end of the same century. Strong anthmpic pressure led to a reduction of forest surface in this country. This is the case in the Bonon area, a sub-prefecture in Marahoué region, where cash crops were developed in the early 1970s. Field data collected in 2000 on settlement and landscape were compared with those from 2015. Changes in population density, spatial organization of the territory and rural communications were described. Within 15 years, the rural population density has increased from 75 inhabitants/km² in 2000 to 134 inhabitants/km² in 2015. This increase in human population densities, despite the socio-political crisis from 2002 to 2011, has profoundly changed the landscape in this area. The analysis of the landscape shows a considerable increase in cultivation surface. Agricultural surface have risen from 3818 hectares in 2000 to 5250 hectares in 2015, so an increase of 31% over 15 years. The original forest has almost disappeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]