News published 07 March 2025

The Réserve Botanique de Divo or Divo Botanic Reserve is 6,802 hectares in size and located in the sub-prefecture of Divo in the Lôh Djiboua Region, southern Côte d’Ivoire. It has been significantly degraded, with remaining pockets of forest just 1-2 hectares big in a sea of agriculture. Supported by the UK government’s Darwin Initiative fund, a project led by CIFOR-ICRAF with BGCI as a key partner, ran from May 2023 to October 2024 to increase understanding of the diversity still present in the reserve and to build capacity to be able to restore it using native and threatened tree species. 

A key result of this project was the development of a restoration plan for the reserve. In May 2024, CIFOR-ICRAF in collaboration with BGCI, the National Floristic Centre (CNF) and the Ministry of Water and Forests (MINEF) hosted an in-person workshop entitled “Restoration plan Divo Botanic Reserve” with the aim to develop a collaborative restoration plan. This workshop was attended by 39 participants, with representation from 18 organisations spanning local community groups, local and national government, NGOs, and academic institutions. 

During the workshop presentations on Divo Botanic Reserve’s tree diversity, threats facing the reserve, and current conservation actions for threatened trees were delivered. For example, Konan Yao from CNF presented on the the first botanical inventory of the reserve which was undertaken in 2023 and which found sixteen threatened tree species still persisting in the reserve, including Tieghemella heckelii which is listed as Endangered the IUCN Red List of Threatened Tree Species. 

A visioning exercise took place and resulted in a qualitative description of what successful restoration of the Divo Botanic Reserve would look like. After much discussion, participants adopted the following vision: 

“By 2023 Divo Botanic Reserve is restored and valued as a treasure of the Lôh-Djiboua region, and is managed sustainably by a local partnership of actors for the benefit of the people and biodiversity.” 

To achieve this vision four goals were developed covering protection and restoration, collaborative management, sustainable livelihoods and public engagement. In the workshop the group was split into four working groups which discussed the following: 

• Causes and impacts of major issues to the preservation and long-term restoration of the reserve
• Agreement of priority strategies to mitigate issues
• Agreement of what existing restoration opportunities could be mobilised for targeted groups and what kinds of further action or planning should be initiated, and 
• Agreement on who will take the next steps towards progressing these recommendations. 

By the end of the week, 17 objectives were developed with finer level actions to achieve the four goals.

The development of this restoration plan is the first step in the process to achieving the recovery of the Divo Botanic Reserve. To maintain momentum, the most important next step is to form a management committee for the reserve, as no single organisation will be able restore the reserve single-handedly. The management committee will need representation from all key local and national stakeholders that once formed can work in partnership to achieve the four goals and 17 objectives outlined in the restoration plan. 

Through collaboration and determination, it will be possible to turn a new corner for the reserve such that by 2030 Divo Botanic Reserve will once again become a treasure of the region, sustainably providing for the local population and with biodiversity recovering to close to what it once was prior to its degradation.