Chapter 18 Experience of Community-Based Adaptation in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is a land-locked country, sharing a border with six other countries, namely Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote D'Ivoire in the zone of West Africa (Fig. 1). Due to the geographical location of the Sahel region, the country's climate is characterized by rainy and dry seasons. According to the Human Development Report in 2010, the country has a very weak economy with a GDP of 522 USD per habitant, principally based on agriculture (25%), animal production (12%), and forestry/fishery (3%) (MECV & SP/CONEDD, 2006a). The population growth is extremely high at 2.8%, with 46.4% of the population living below the national poverty line and 81.2% living on less than $2 a day (UNDP, 2009). The biomass energy is the largest primary energy source covering 80% of total consumption, thus accelerating soil degradation as well as deforestation.