Analysing Trade-offs between Recreational Uses and Conservation Issues in the Bãngr-weoogo Urban Park in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Sidnoma Traoré and J

Abstract

We investigate whether visitors’ preferences for recreation and conservation could be reconciled by identifying management tradeoffs. We use a choice experiment based on a random sampling, and conducted face-to-face interviews on site with 475 respondents. Improving biodiversity emerged as the action with most likely effect of increasing the welfare of visitors. The reduction in recreational areas, the removal of restrictions on recreational activities and, more surprisingly, the reduction in the expected number of visits appear to be the factors reducing the most of the visitors’ welfare. Although the park in its current state is fairly appreciated, the welfare of visitors can be significantly improved by appropriately combining the biodiversity conservation with an increase in the number of recreational areas, as well applying restrictions on certain activities with a significant but not excessive attendance.