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.