COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT : AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THE TIOGO FOREST IN BURKINA FASO

In Burkina Faso, forest is an imperfect public good : non-exclusion in the use of derived goods and services and rivalry in wood exploilation and the non-woody forest product consumption. The free access characterizing it and the free-riding behaviour lead to the forest resources an over-exploitation. This situation is a source of negative externalities, which leads to sub-optimal allocation of these natural resources. These externalities impose costs on the whole society (social cost) and policy interventions are needed to avoid "tragedy of the commonst". In the related literature, two solutions are naditionally recorwnended : privatisation or public intewention regulating collective use of the resource. However another solution, a community-based nanagement may be an alternative to the obsemed State mismanagement. This study analyses the required conditions to the implernentation of a community-based natural resource management for the Tiogoforest in Burkina Faso.