Influence of Peripheral Socio-economic Interactions and Participatory Management on the Exploitation and Evolution of the Rusizi National Park (Burundi) from 1984 to 2015

The Rusizi national Park management is now disconnected from peripheral territorial dynamics. This study aims to analyze the evolution of the protected area considering both participatory management strategies and spatial socio-economic interactions. For this, an integrated methodology was used. This one combines the diachronic analysis of land cover from multi-temporal Landsat images (1984, 1990, 2000, 2011, 2015) using ENVI 4.5 and ArcGIS 10.1 softwares, field observations and measurements of anthropic threats on the natural resources using GIS technologies and interviews and statistical analysis of the exploitation of the resources based on ANOVA and χ² tests using SPSS 16.0 software. The results show that the protected area has been considerably deteriorated. Its degradation is mainly due to massive and seasonal exploitation of vegetal resources that involves 84% of the supervised operators and 71% of illegal exploitation, generalized farming deforestation, bush fires and cattle grazing. Finally, we note a decline of vegetation cover of 29.9%, a decrease of water bodies of 31.24% and an extension of anthropized areas of 94.5% dominated by cultivated areas which are moving from the depths to the periphery and migrating from heights to the shallows. The increase in offenses results in a symbolic and low-paying participatory management and the presence of 35 villages which are depending on the park for more than 85% of their resources needs. The newest villages are strategically located within 3 km distance from the park where they are experiencing a very quick population growth and a lot of fraudulent markets for forest products. The operating revenues of the park are still too low to ensure self-financing, local development and control of threats. These results will help decision makers and park managers to define appropriated objectives, methods and tools for more efficient community-based management and sustainable use of natural resources.