Niger is home to a number of national parks and protected areas, including two UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserves. The protected areas of Niger normally have a designation and status determined by the Government of Niger. Further, fourteen sites also have international designations, applied by UNESCO and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands' protection. Protected lands in Niger are managed by a number of authorities, and the areas of authority and structure have changed a number of times since independence. Some of the first reserves, parks, and protected areas were designated under French Colonial rule, and much of the legal regime is based on these colonial laws. Niger is also party to a number of international agreements and participates in international ecological, conservation, and resource management programs with its neighbors, region, and worldwide.
Type and number of protected areas
Protected lands in Niger fall under both national and international regulation, and are managed by elements of the Nigerien government, as well as regional bodies and international designation oversight bodies. Initial classification of lands as legally protected for conservation of flora, fauna, landscape, and resource protection was done under French Colonial rule beginning in 1936. Much of the legal framework of land management and protection is based on these original regulations. As of the late 1990s, most land management was the area of the Nigerien Natural Resource Management Unit (Cellule de Gestion des Resources Naturelles) of the Inter-ministerial Sub-committee for Rural Development (Sous-Comité Interministériel chargé de la politique de Développement Rural au Niger), which includes ministries focused on environmental issues, industrial resource extraction, economic growth, and farming. Nigerien designated protected areas were administered by the Direction of Fauna, Fisheries and Aquaculture (Direction de la Faune, de la Pêche et de la Pisciculture - DFPP) of the Ministry of Hydrology and the Environment (Ministère de l'Hydraulique et de l'Environnement - MHE). Actual protection is the responsibility of the DFPP's Fauna and Apiculture Management Service (Service d'Aménagement de la Faune et de l'Apiculture - SAFA) which in 1987 had only 40 staff actually managing or guarding sites.[1]
Note: most sites have at least two overlapping designations.
National designations
Various Nigerien government designations, administered by the "Direction de l'Environnement" office of the Ministry of Hydrology and Environment[1]
1 Partial Faunal Reserve, the equivalent of the World Commission on Protected Areas/IUCN Category IV
1 Faunal Reserve Buffer Zone
1 National Nature Reserve, the equivalent of the World Commission on Protected Areas/IUCN Category IV
1 Strict Nature Reserve, the equivalent of the World Commission on Protected Areas/IUCN Category Ia (Nature Reserve)
1 National Park, the equivalent of the World Commission on Protected Areas/IUCN Category II (National Park)
Niger's national parks and protected areas (yellow)
79 Forest Reserves (Forêts Classées) totaling 212,000 ha
51 restoration and land protection areas totaling 69,000 ha
International conventions and programmes
Additionally, several sites have international designations as protected areas. As signatories of the below conventions, the Government of Niger places restrictions on use of these lands.
12 Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar). As a Convention signatory, Niger has agreed to establish wetlands protective areas, which may restrict use and promote "the wise use of wetlands in their territory".[2]
VII. "to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance";
IX. "to be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals";
X. "to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation."
A number of Nigerien sites are recognised by conservation programmes as conservation areas of special importance, even where there is no formal government convention. Notable among these are 15 BirdLife International designated Important Bird Areas (IBA).[3] Many of these are additional designations given to existing Nigerien government, IUCN, or Ramsar designated sites.
