In 1991 the country hosted a major fire research programme. "Fire of Savannas" (FOS/DECAFE) was part of the project DECAFE (Dynamique et Chimie Atmosphérique en Forêt Equatoriale). The overall aim of FOS/DECAFE was to investigate the contribution of gaseous and particle emissions from savannah fires to the regional and global emission budgets and to clarify the role of fire emissions on tropospheric ozone formation (Lacaux et al. 1993, 1995). Information on fires in forest ecosystems is given by two IFFN contributions (Anonymous 1996, Oura 1999). During the 1982-1983 drought Côte d'Ivoire suffered wildfires of a magnitude similar to Ghana. Vast forest fires occurred in closed forests (evergreen and semi-deciduous forests) and other areas:
• About 1.7 million ha of forest, bush fallow and tree crops were affected by wildfires;
• 45 000 ha of forests were destroyed;
• More than 100 000 ha of cash crops (coffee, cocoa, rubber tree, palm oil. etc.) burned;
• 4 000 ha of subsistence crops were destroyed;
• 21 people were killed.
The fires burned through 12 000 ha of industrial forest plantations and about 3 000 ha were partially or completely destroyed. From 1983 to 1998, 32 624 ha of forests were affected by wildfires and 4 836 ha were completely destroyed in the 20 gazetted forests managed by the State Reforestation Service (SODEFOR).
References
Anonymous 1996. Wildfires: Situation and actions. Int. Forest Fire News 14: 18-19.
R.A. Delmas, Druilhet, A., Cros, B., Durand, P., Delon, C., Lacaux, J.P., Brustet, J.M., Serça, D., Affre, C., Guenther, A., Greenberg, J., Baugh, W., Harley, P., Klinger, L., Ginoux, P., Brasseur, G., Zimmerman, P.R., Grégoire, J.M., Janodet, E., Tournier, A., Perros, P., Marion, Th., Gaudichet, A., Cachier, H., Ruellan, S., Masclet, P., Cautenet, S., Poulet, D., Bouka Biona, C., Nganga, D., Tathy, J.P., Minga, A., Loemba-Ndembi, J., & Ceccato, P. 1999. Experiment for regional sources and sinks of Oxidants (EXPRESSO): An overview. J. of Geophysical Research 104: 30 609-30 624.
Eva, H. & Lambin, E.F. 1998. Burnt area mapping in Central Africa using ATSR data.
Int. J. of Remote Sensing 19: 3 473-3 497.
Lacaux, J.-P., Cachier, H. & Delmas, R. 1993. Biomass burning in Africa: An overview of its impact on atmospheric chemistry. In: Fire in the Environment: The Ecological, Atmospheric, and Climatic Importance of Vegetation Fires (P. J. Crutzen & J. G. Goldammer, eds.), p. 159-191. Chichester, England, J. Wiley & Sons.
Lacaux, J. P., Brustet, J.M., Delmas, R., Menaut, J.C., Abbadie, L., Bonsang, B., Cachier, H., Baudet, J., Andreae, M.O. & Helas, G. 1995. Biomass burning in the tropical savannas of Ivory Coast: An overview of the field experiment Fire of Savannas (FOS/DECAFE '91). J. of Atmospheric Chemistry. 22: 195-216.
Nsiah-Gyabaah, K. 1996. Bushfires in Ghana. Int. Forest Fire News 15: 24-29.
Oura, B. 1999. Management and prevention of forest fires in Côte d'Ivoire. SODEFOR's Forest Fire Protection Programme. Int. Forest Fire News 20: 50-56.
