ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the environmental history of a forest reserve in Burkina Faso, a country with a chequered history as a nation state, to illustrate how a temporal hierarchy of land management systems can help to illuminate the dynamics of the West African savanna landscape. The conservation of forest resources has continued to be a key element in connection with land use and natural resource management in the region. The conceptual framework serves to guide the characterisation of the savanna land use system in and around the Tiogo Forest Reserve. The chapter presents a historical study of land use and land cover changes in and around the Tiogo Forest Reserve in Sanguie Province, Central West Region of Burkina Faso. The sustained effort to suppress bushfires in Burkina Faso has generated and perpetuated myths about the environmental impacts of fire in savanna landscapes which represent over-simplifications of cause-consequence relationships.
