Burkina Faso - National environmental action plan : Executive summary

BURKINA FASO REPORT E 0012 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN Summary August 1993 This report is property of Burkina Faso  BUTRKIA FASO NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN EXECUTVE SUMMARY BACKGROUND 1. The Burkina Faso National promulgated in 1985 a Land Reform Act (RAF). Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) is designed It undertook in 1987 the three "struggles" to provide a strategic framework to enable the (Iuaes): against brush fires, random tree cutting authorities to guide and coordinate and monitor and overgrazing. actions that seek to improve environmental management so as to meet the needs of the 4. These activities had a predominantly current population while sustaining renewable rural natural resource management focus and led resources in order to meet the needs of future to the 'Village Land Management' premise that generations of Burkinabe. the key to successful resource management was the voluntary participation of the villager. This 2. The Buridnabe have been managing their would require security of tenure and a environment fbr centries, mostly through contractual arrangement ensuring technical and cultivation practices that recognized the infrastructure support from national government productive limits of the land being farmed by services in exchange for environmental allowing the land to reconstitute itself. In management activities carried out by the modem times these practices have been villagers. overwhelmed by population growth. A burgeoning population means that there is simply 5. Regrettably, although there were many not enough land to leave fallow, with serious activities underway, there was still a lack of consequences in terms of overutilization of the significant results. The RAF did not in practice land. provide practical security of tenure. Government technical support was limited to a 3. Recognizing this fact relatively early, handful of pilot projects. Infrastructure support Burkina Faso acquired a reputation in West was largely limited to the initiatives of external Africa as a leader in actions aimed at improving donors. Only a handful of contracts were envirornental management. It was one of the entered into and enviromnental management first countries to establish, wiffi the assistance of activities occurred mosty in response to NGO or CILSS, a National Plan for the Struggle against donor initiatives. The coordinating committee Desertification (PNLCD; 1986) with a for the PNLCD (the CNLCD) lacked an coordinating committee (CNLCD; 1986). It operating structure that would permit it to I~ ~~ ~ ~ _______________  Burkina Fa: .Naroan Evnxuuatal Acnio Plan 2 coordinate effectively and the strong political through the "Village Land Management* support for enviromnental management that was approach. However, the workshop identified the evident at the launching of the programs was not need to both deepen and broaden the range of consistently maintained. activities that had been undertaken. 6. In the meantime, population growth 10. A key necessity identified was to continued unabated at about 3% per annum provide more encouragement, instruction and nation wide and about 8% per annum in the two motivation to land users to empower, enable and major cities. Migration from north to south encourage them to undertake village land continued and migration to Cote d'Ivoire became management- This should be achieved through less attractive, resulting in additional pressure on strengthening the 'Village Land Management' the southern lands. approach to improve tie availability of technical services, to modify and strengthen the RAF to 7. Conscious of the need to do more,.the ensure security of tenure, and to accelerate the Burkinabe authorities called a National provision of social and economic infrastructure Workshop on the Environment in Bobo- to villages. Dioulasso in October 1989. Sixty participants i debated the environmental problems facing the 11. A second important recommendation country, using as a base three documents was to extend the concept of environmental produced by Burkinabt consultants on the management beyond the confines of the village physical, social and institutional environment, first to include macro-management of national natural resources and second to undertake 8. The National Environmental Action Plan measures to improve environmental conditions- gives an operational form to the principal notably water supply and treatment, sewerage, conclusions and recommendations of the and household, industrial and toxic waste workshop. Based on the recent experience of disposal-in urban and peri-urban areas. This . numerous programs and projects and the should complement the measures required for- supplementary studies recommended by the and should in no way divert attention or workshop, the goal is to provide a simple but resources from-village land management. comprehensive framework which will enable the better organization, management and 12. A third recommendation was to coordination of existing and future operations. improve national, regional and departmental The NEAP is thus an additional part of the environmental planning and coordination. This continuing effbrts to improve the management of should include monitoring and evaluating the Burkina enviromnent. environmental targets, ensuring that new programs and projects are consistent with environmental and economic planning objectives, CONCLUSIONS OF THE NATIONAL initiating a program of environmental ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOP assessments and improving the quality and availability of environmental information. 9. The workshop reiterated the objective of environmental management as the search for a 13. A fourth recommendation was to socio-ecological balance, i.e., a balance between improve the level of both formal and informal man and nature. The workshop strongly environmental education with the twin objectives endorsed several key elements of the programs of increasing the population's awareness of the that had been previously attempted, notably the need for environmental management and attempt to achieve socio-ecological balance improving the technical capability of both the  Burk= Fw: Nauion nronmealAcn Po n 3 authorities and the private sector. This need was obstacles to progress identified by the workshop. judged to be an important prerequisite for achieving the workshop's other 17. The reason for regrouping existing and recommendations. future environmental management actions in-o the Programmatic Agendas is threefold: first, it 14. A fifth recommendation noted the need provides a useful organizing framework that for the Burkinabe political authorities to provide simplifies the understanding of the structure of substantially increased support to enviromnental the NEAP; second, it facilitates the articulation management. This meant that the authorities of strategic guidelines to be followed in the should not limit themselves to launching execution of the programs and projects that programns, but should also interest themselves in make up each Programmatic Agenda; and, third, following program execution in order to satisfy it provides a practical and readily understandable themselves and report to the people on the schema for monitoring and evaluating amount of progress being made. The objective environmental management actions. of effective high-level political support is to convince the Burkinabe people that the 18. There are four Programmatic Agendas: environment is the business of every citizen, from peasant to urban dweller, from forester to * The Programmatic Agenda for garbage collector, from infant to elder. National Resource Management 15. Finally, the workshop noted the e The Programmatic Agenda for Village importance of the intolerably high level of Land Management population growth which risked rendering all environmental management programs * The Programmatic Agenda for ineffective. The Workshop urged the authorities Improving living Standards to give it their most urgent attention, and although resolving this problem is beyond the The Programmatic Agenda for scope of a National Environment Action Plan, it Developing Environrmental Capabilities has been addressed in so far as is possible. 19. The Programmatic Agendas are complemented by two support programs: ELEMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN * Managing Information on the Environment 16. The main objective of the National Environmental Action Plan is to provide a 0 Coordinating and Monitoring the coherent, action-oriented framework for carrying NEAP out a program of environmental management that will lead to a socio-ecological balance. This 20. The interactions between the four means grouping the multitude of programs, Progranmnatic Agendas are shown schematically projects and actions that have a bearing on the in Figure 1, which illustrates the duality of the enviromnent into a manageable framework. In required interventions-citizen and state-in the order to achieve this, the NEAP has been context of changes that need to be brought about constructed around a series of 'Programmatic both in the management of natural resources and Agendas' (Programmnes Cadres), each of which in the behavior of the citizenry. addresses a key dimension of envirornmental intervention and responds to one or more of the 21. On the physical side, there is a division  BaFm5: FasvAoomf EinwromnarlAcuo PIa 4 Figur I Conceptual Sructre of the NEAP i | NEAP OBJECTIVE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL BALANCE | Rr ~~SOCIAL X BIO-PHYSICAL j1 I. ENVIRONMET ENVI RONMENT) eId(w wfzlacqfocsogs )p>( opulation ( cbym}es of anonal rsourcs A A A A aczdsand > andgLwtvlage ladl< lnurceasset PROGRAMMATIC AGENDAS DEVELOPING IMPROVING CVILLAGE) NATIONAL EONV ETONMET LING LAND RESOURCE CAPABILrrEES CONDITIONS MANAGEMELNT MANAGEMENT MANAGING INFORMATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT  Burkaa Faso: NWonal EavironmenWi Action Plan 5 of labor between the state which is responsible the time to develop economic altematives is also for macro-management of the national heritage likely to be disinterested in environmental of natural resources and the individual who is maiagement. Overcoming these obstacles is the responsible for micro-management of the land to objective of the Programmatic Agenda for which he has tenure or for his neighborhood. In Improvizbg Living Standards. the rural context, this translates into state responsibility for national forests, watersheds, 25. Thus, it is essential that the authorities soils, mineral resources, etc. and individual and the people work together to assemble the responsibility for managing the land, water and combination of information and education, other resources that belong to the village. In the services, and social and economic infrastructure urban context, it translates into state that, together, will change attitudes towards the responsibility for sanitary infrastructure such as environment and stimulate voluntary individual water supply and drains and individual participation in environmental management. responsibility for sewage and garbage disposal. This, in short, is the objective of the Programmatic Agendas. The two support 22. These responsibilities have to be programs are designed to provide a supported by information about the resources coordination, monitoring and evaluation themselves, their potential and their structure for the NEAP and to initiate the management. These can take the form of soil process of developing an environmental data maps, forest and wildlife protection plans, base that could eventually be used as a basis for watershed usage plans, etc. at the national level, a national program of environmental monitoring and village land potential and use plans at the system. village level. Thus the objective of each of the "bio-physical Programmatic Agendas is to LINKS WITH EXISTING ensure the coordination and putting in place of PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS programs or projects that provide the information and technical bases that will permit 26. A question that is frequently asked the national authorities and individual citizens to concerns the relationship between the NEAP and play their role in environmental management. existing and future programs and projects. The answer is very simple: the NEAP is a strategic 23. On the human side, the population has to framework that spells out an action plan; the be given both the means and the incentives to specific actions under the plan will be carried play their role. A population (or a national out by line ministries and government agencies authority, for that matter) that is ignorant of the as part of their normal responsibilities. The importance of environmental management or of only difference from current practice is that the the techniques available for carrying it out will ministries' and agencies programs and projects be unable to play their role. This is where the will be-for purposes of coordination and Programmatic Agenda for Developing monitoring-grouped under the NEAP's Environmental Capabilities demonstrates its Programmatic Agendas. inportance. 27. For example, the Progranunatic Agenda 24. But a population that lacks basic (rather for National Resource Management includes than specialized environmental) education or has inter atia programs for land use planning, for very poor health conditions may be unable to conservation and protection of soils, water, participate fully in environmental management. forests, flora and fauna, the Sahel Burkinabb, And a population that lacks access to markets or and the environmental impact of such activities  urkka Faw: Nalotal Envromen alAction PAn 6 as mining and resettlement. parks and wildlife reserves, and lakes-that have been defined as having characteristics that set 28. The Programmatic Agenda for Village them aside as part of the national heritage. Land Management includes inter alia the proposed LUCODEB program, the National 33. In effect, this macro-management of the Village Land Management Project and a variety nation's resources provides the technical and of other donor and NGO initiatives. policy framework within which micro- management of resources at the village or 29. The Programmatic Agenda for neighborhood level can be carried out. It starts Improving Living Conditions includes inter alia with the development of a solid body of the Second Urban Project, the proposed knowledge concerning the availability and Secondary Cities Project, the Village Well potential of natural resources such as soils, Program, as well as various school, clinic and - water and vegetation and sets this information feeder road programs. into a socio-spatial context through land use planning. This balances human aspirations with 30. The Programmatic Agenda for the potential of the national territory to meet the Developing Environmental Capabilities includes needs of a growing population in a marner that inter alia elements of primary, secondary and ensures that the natural resources are used on a tertiary education programs, mass media sustainable basis. This is the main objective of campaigns and technical assistance to both the the Programmatic Agenda for National Resource public and private sectors. Management. 31. In some cases, the NEAP provides 34. This is the context in which the various endorsement and reinforcement of existing natural resources plans-soils, water, forests, etc. programs; in some cases, it proposes new can be coordinated-in a manner that will initiatives. The new initiatives make up the bulk improve the management of resources under of the project proposals fiches deprojects) that competing demands, eg., forestry versus are the main operational arms of the NEAP livestock raising versus agriculture. It is also (Volume 2). The CNLCD is identifying many the way the population dimension can be better existing programs and projects which make up incorporated into natural resource planning each of the Programmatic Agendas. The basic through the integration of demographic and objectives, principles and strategic guidelines for natural resource information into regional land the Programmatic Agendas are set out below. use plans. 35. In parallel to attempts to improve the PROGRAMMA TIC AGENDA FOR plaling and management of national resource NATIONAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT use, it is important to improve management of specific natural resources areas that make up the 32. This Programmatic Agenda recognizes national heritage and that have been judged the fact that, despite the fact that the individual worthy of or in need of protection. Thus, there citizen should be responsible for managing is a need to develop better plans for the resources at the level of the village or management of national forests, national parks, neighborhood, the govermment bears the wildlife reserves, endangered watersheds, etc. responsibility for the policies and plans that This is the secondary objective of the define the global use of national natural Programmatic Agenda for National Resource resources and for the direct management of Management. specific areas-such as national forests, national  Bwkina Faso: National Ewzromnerac Acion Plan 7 PROGRAMMATIC AGENDA FOR The Provincial Coordinating Committees will be VILLAGE LAND MANAGEMENT strengthened to enable them to perform an enhanced role in animating villagers to 36. This micro-management, popular participate in VLM programs and to enter into participation approach to environmental legal contract with villagers. These contracts management has been the focus of much will specify the Village Lind Management thinking and program development and is measures that the villagers will undertake and already well underway, notably in the context of the social and economic infrastructure that the the Village Land Management approach adopted government commits itself to providing. some years ago by the Burkinabe. The RAF National infrastructure programs will be and the PNLCD established the basic principles designed from the bottom up, on the basis of that should guide programs and projects in this provincial plans made up by the Provincial domain. Village land management should be Coordinating Committees and will give priority carried out through the voluntary participation of in financial resources allocation and program villagers. Security of tenure is required to execution to villages that have Village Land empower the villagers and to give them the Management Contracts. In this way, villagers confidence to make long-term enviromnental will be empowered, enabled and encouraged to investments on their own and on communal carry out land management plans and land. The government should make available to investments. the villagers the technical know-how and the social and economic infrastructure necessary to PROGRAMMATIC AGENDA FOR enable them and encourage them to understand IMPROVING IVING CONDITIONS the potential of their land, to manage it in a sustainable way and to undertake environmental 39. This programmatic agenda also has a investments. The NEAP fully endorses these rural and an urban component. The rural guiding principles that should apply to all village component aims to provide the social and land management programs and projects. economic infrastructure necessary to enable and to encourage the voluntary participation of 37. However, in order to operationalize villagers in Village Land Management activities. these principles, action is required: first to As such, it is an essential complement to the provide better and more universally available Programmatic Agenda for Village Land technical services to villagers; second, to Management. Tne urban component aims to strengthen the ability of the government to meet provide the water supply, sanitation and waste its responsibilities at the provincial level; and disposal infrastructure that is required to permit third to reorient programs aimed at providing the urban population to manage better their social and economic infrastructure to give personal health practices and household waste priority to villages that are undertaking village disposal in order to reduce pollution of land management. groundwater sources and to reduce the inc,dence of sanitary-related and water-borne diseases. 38. National programs aimed at providing technical services to villages to survey, map and 40. Improvement of Rural Living analyze the natural resource potential of their Conditions. It is unrealistic to expect village with a view to developing a village land unedu.ated villagers, in poor health, with access use plan will be strengthened. ITe RAF is to neither clean water nor economic being amended to provide effective security of infrastructure such as markets to have the tenure to villagers. The special circumstances capability or the incentive to undertake long- and needs of pastoralists will be recognized. term investmnents in environmental management-  Bwa Fa.o: Naione Em{ow,zen,al Aclson Plan 6 In repeated surveys, villagers have demanded 42. Inproving Urban Living Conditions. these services and for good reason. Without The problem of the urban enviromnent is a minimum education, villagers are unlikely to be hitherto neglected subject. Nonetheless, it is able to understand the need for environlmental growing daily as more and more people crowd management or to be able to absorb effectively into cities and towns, new infrastructure the measures *and techniques required- provision stagnates, existing infrastructure Therefore, the villagers demand schools. collapses for lack of maintenance and the waste Without minimum health, they may well be products of industry and services such as public physically unable to undertake the enviromnental transport, abattoirs and hospitals are disposed of management measures that are needed or to take in a haphazard manner. Even air pollution is advantage of the increased production becoming a serious problem. In the future, the possibilities created - by environmental urban population is forecast to grow at an management. Thus, they demand clinics. - increasing rate as the productive potential of the Women who spend hours each day fetching land diminishes and the population continues to water and wood and grinding grain are unlikely grow. to see much benefit in environmental mnagement aactivities that would permit 43. Urban neighborhoods also need careful - expanded production opportunities. Thus, they management by the individuals who live there to demand wells, improved stoves and grinding avoid destruction of scarce natural and human mills. Fimally, villagers with no access to resources. Unmanaged disposal of household kmarets see no benefit in increased possibilities and industrial wastes-human and institutional-is to produce things that they cannot sell. So they creating a growing problem in terms of demand feeder roads and improved groundwater (and, hence, drinking water) marketplaces. pollution and in terms of public health, mainly through water- and waste-bome diseases that 41. Thus, it can be seen that the process of take an appalling toll on the young and have a enabling and encouraging villagers to undertake substantial economic cost through lost Village Land Management activities depends on productivity. At the micro level, urban dwellers a cmplex set of factors. The villagers are quite have to leam to manage their environment capable of articulating their needs in this regard. through improved personal and household It is up to the government to respond in such a sanitary practices and better solid waste disposal. way as to meet its part of the Village Land Industries have to improve their methods of Management contract. This is not just a matter disposal of industrial waste and their of resources. For the moment, the resources management of toxic substances and waste. available for rural infrastructure are by and large adequate or could be made available under 44. Since the problem has only been existing and planned projects. It is a matter of recognized recently, the NEAP calls for a two- substantially reorienting government resource pronged attack. First, efforts must be made to allocation procedures to ensure that these accelerate the planning, design, and facilities are provided in the villages that have implementation of critical sanitary inrrastructure prepared a Village Land Use Plan and are in Ouagadougou and in Bobo Dioulasso. prepared to enter into a Village Land Second, efforts must be made to improve Management Contract with the government, conditions in secondary towns as a way of Reorienting resources and priorities in the containing some of the effects of the rural provision of rural infrastructure is the first exodus before they reach the large towns. objective of the Programmatic Agenda for Third, a modest program of technical work is Improving Living Conditions. required to understand better the issues of  Burkia Faso: Nmional Eniviomneaal Acion Plan 9 industrial waste disposal, as well as methods of environmental assessments. This applies equally increasing public awareness of public health to the NGOs. For the population at large, it problems and ways of combatting them through will be important to develop a renewed public improved personal health measures and awareness of the importance of environmental increased popular participation in the provision, management and the need for popular maintenance, and use of sanitary infrastructure. participation in its activities. This will require Ihis is the second objective of the Programmatic modified and strengthened programs in the Agenda for Improving Living Conditions. formal education sector as well as mass media campaigns through radio, television and the press aimed at the population at large. PROGRAMMATIC AGENDA FOR DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTAL CAPABILITIES MANAGING INFORMATION ON THIE ENVIRONMENT 45. Since national level environmental management is a relatively new field in Burkina 47. The National Environmental Workshop Faso, it is imperative to begin to develop a body recommended the establishment of a program of of expertise and competence in environmental permanent environmental monitoring for the matters. In this context, competence should be national territorvy Further investigation has in-erpreted in the broadest sense, covering both revealed that, in the current state of development the technical expertise required in both the of environmental information data collection and public and private sectors to permit treatment in Burkina Faso, it would be environmental management to be planned, unrealistic to attempt to move directly to a executed, monitored and evaluated and the national monitoring program. First, the general level of environmental awareness in the currently collected data are unuerexploited; population that will elicit the changes in attitudes second, work is needed to make existing data and mentalities that will provide the base for sets compatible; and third, there is no evidence public participation in environmental of strong demand for improved environmental managemenL Needless to say, this information either from political decision- programmatic agenda is at the least advanced makers, technicians or the scientific community. stage of development and needs to be almost fully articulated under the NEAP. 48. As described above, the NEAP proposes the setting in place of a National Program for 46. A key element of this program will be the Management of Information on the an increase in the technical capacity of the Environmnent (PNGIM). The formulation of the Ministry of Envirounment and Tourism to permit follow-up component of the National Program it to expand its activities beyond forestry issues for Village Land Management in June-July 1990 to do fill justice to the demands of already raised the more general question of the environmental management. At the same tirne, institutional organization of information on the technical *ine ministries will require enviromnent at the national level. The intention strengthening to enable them to take better of establishing the PNGIM developed from this account of environmental issues in the planning unstructured general feeling. While the local and execution of their programs. In the private professionals had become well aware of the sector, it will be important to develop a possibilities offered by new technologies of consulting capability to meet the requirements Information Management and the stakes within called for under the NEAP for technical their control, the scope and the complexity of environmental studies and plans as well as for the implementation of an information system  Bka Faso: NaOn)EnYiroviwnaAciroxPIaa 10 such as the PNGIM was generally under- committee will be responsible for ensuring that esfimated. This is why a thorough reflection on the NEAP receives the political and financial the content, organization and function of the attention that is necessary to assure its PNGIM started in October 1990. It led to a satisfactory execution. It will meet every six workshop of discussions from 13 -15 May 1991 months to review the progress report prepared at Bobo-Dioulasso. by the CICI/PANE, to debate the issues raised by the progress report and to resolve any 49. The workshop prepared a final conflicts that might arise. formulation of the objectives of PNGIM and adopted an institutional formula consisting of 52. The Interministerial Technical three basic elements: a network of partners, a Coordinating Committee (CICT/PANE). In the coordinating unit and a processing unit for same way as the NEAP is an evolution of the geographic information. The workshop allowed PNLCD, the coordinating body of the NEAP the identification of 17 project proposals on could be conceived -of as an evolution of the environmental informationlmanagement covering CNLCD, strengthened and complemented to the majority of the current needs. Thirteen of resolve the problems mentioned above and these projects will be finalized and included in expanded to reflect the broader scope of the the investment program of PNGIM. Finally the NEAP. Thus the concept of an interininisterial workshop agreed that the General Secretaries of technical coordinating committee has been the Ministries of Environment and Tourism, retained, with membership made up of Agriculture and Livestock, and Equipment, representatives from all the ministries whose should take the initiative to form a working programs affect the environment and chaired by group for the follow up of the PNGIM. the Minister of Environment and Tourism. The attributes of this committee would be to: ensure the technical coordination of the programmatic I NSITuTIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE agendas that make up the NEAP; verify that NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL programs and projects impacting on the ACTION PLAN environment are consistent with the guidelines of the NEAP; help the concerned ministries and 50. Coordination and Monitoring. The agencies to mobilize resources for the activities National Enviromnental Workshop noted that the that make up the programmatic agendas; coordination and monitoring of the PNLCD monitor the execution of these activities; (Figure 1I) had fallen short of expectations in identify problems and obstacles and prepare a two main areas: the level of political support six-month report on progress in meeting the accorded to monitoring and the level of targets of the programmatic agendas. The resources allocated to make the Permanent ClTC/PANE would report to the ministerial Secretariat of the monitoring committee level committee and would be supported by a (CNLCD) operational. The support program for Permanent Secretariat. coordinating and monitoring the NEAP will redress these shortcomings. 53. 'The Permanent Secretariat (SP/PANE). Since the members of the CICT/PANE are 51. lhe Ministerial Monitoring Committee ministerial representatives with other day-to-day (CMS/PANE). ini order io ensure hign-level responsibilities, they will need to be supported attention to the execution and monitorlng of the by a Permanent Secretariat with a small staff NEAP, a Mnisterial Monitoring Committee will covering each of the progranmnatic agendas. be established, assembling the Ministers whose This will be responsible for determining the ministries touch on the environment. This precise composition of the programmatic  BNai Fawo Nadong Ex'roi,nMl Acnio Pan NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN COORDINATION AND MONITORING STRUCTURE lf l MINISTERIAL MONITORING COMMITTEE CMSIPANE INTERMINISTERIAL TECHNICAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE CICTIPANE PERMANENT SECRETARIAT SPIPANE . . .. .. . c.-. .- , , ~ . X:'C  Burkina Faso: Naional Envronmental Action Plan 12 agendas, agreeing with ministerial NEXT STEPS - representatives on program and project targets, FROM PLAN TO ACTION collecting and analyzing the data required to monitor progress towards the targets and 55. The next critical step is to set up the preparing the six-monthly progress report. implementation of the NEAP in motion - to Since the Permanent Secretariat will need to move from plan to action. Execution of existing mount a substantial effort in the beginning to activities must be continued and intensified. establish a data base for program monitoring, it New activities must be fleshed out, funded and will be supported initially by an international implemented. A key element will be the expert in environmental planning and monitoring establishment of the monitoring and coordination and an expert in data base design and structure described in the previous section. maintenance. It will be adequately housed and provided with the logistical means necessary to 56. This will permit the objectives and make it operational. outputs of existing programs and projects to be defined in more detail and a monitoring program 54. The Ministry of Environment and to be put in place. This is particularly important Tourism. Until very recently, the Ministry of since the activities of the existing projects will Enviromnent -and Tourism has fbcused almost forn the bulk of the activity under the NEAP in exclusively on the forestry operations for which the first year of execution and, hence, will it had inherited responsibility. For the NEAP to constitute the main results to be reported in the be successful, it is essential that the Ministry be first few six-monthly reports. structured, staffed and equipped to carry out its environmental managemert vocation. In terms 57. With respect to the complementary new of structure, the importance of the environmental programs, projects and studies that are set out in management function will be clearly signalled by Tome II, the next critical step is to present them the creation of a Director General responsible to the donor community so that they can be for Environment. The General Directorate will detailed, firned up and funded. Since the be progressively staffed with experts in Fiches Techniques contain only the basic environmental planning and management and elements of each activity, it will be essential for supp'rted by a strong training and retraining each interested donor to enter into detailed *. program. One of the main responsibilities of the discussions with the agency or unit responsible directorate will be the establishment of an for each activity in order to develop the full Envirommental Assessment Program in response information necessary to permit the donor to to the determination of the National carry out its appraisal of the activity and to Enviromnental Workshop that many undesirable secure funding. Undoubtedly, this will take environmental impacts and side effects could be some time, so it is essential to start as soon as avoided if programs, policies and projects were possible. a priori subjected to an assessment of their potential environmental impacts. Steps will also 58. The watchword of the NEAP is action. be taken towards the establishment in the It is essential, therefore, that the basic messages ministry of a National Environmental Laboratory of the NEAP be communicated to each that would eventually be responsible for Burkinabe - in the civil service, in the private monitoring water and air quality as well as sector and in NGOs, in the cities and in the industrial waste.  Burkina FeAm: Na1t EWIF O1 eN Plan 13 countryside. This is the second important next step tDwards setting the MEAP in motion. T.his will sensitize the various actors on the scene to the necessity to think of the environment in everything that they do, to foresee the effects of their actions on the enviromnent. Only then will the environment receive the attention and respect that are the prerequisites to sound environmental management.