Redundancy analysis and additive modelling applied on savanna tree data

Abstract

Between 1930 and 1970, the colonial administration and the Senegalese state established 213 protected areas aimed at preserving the natural heritage and ensuring a future supply of natural resources for the local population. Today, the woody resources from the protected savannas still provide an important source of firewood, construction materials, food, animal fodder and medicine for the local people. The management of these protected areas has until recently been centralised and directed by the authorities without reference to the views of the local societies. This has often led to a lack of concern and understanding by the local people, and the protected savannas have continued to decline through uncontrolled fires, grazing animals, agriculture and logging. The decline in tree density within the savannas has been drastic during the last decades, and the remaining areas of savanna are under increasing pressure as the demands on their resources continue to grow.