Data Zone
Country/territory: Burkina Faso
IBA criteria met: A3 (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 230 hectares (2.30 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2001 | good | low | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
Ouagadougou Forest or the Forêt Classée du Barrage, commonly known as the Bois de Boulogne, lies to the north-east of the capital city. It is bounded in the west and north by the Ouagadougou to Kaya road and is contiguous there with the Ouagadougou No. 3 Barrage while to the south it is bounded by the Ouagadougou–Niamey road and is adjacent to the botanic garden of the national research centre (CNRST). To the east it is bounded by an east-north-easterly flowing tributary (draining most of the site) of the Massili stream, which itself flows south-eastwards into the Nakambé river. The site is low-lying with the central area (c.50 ha) consisting of seasonally open water and swampy grassland surrounded by Mimosa pigra and Mitragyna inermis thickets and dense riverine woodland. To the north and south c.120 ha consists of well-grown native woodland with an abundance of Vitellaria paradoxa, Balanites aegyptiaca, Combretum micranthum, C. glutinosum, C. nigricans, Piliostigma reticulatum, Terminalia avicennioides, Parkia biglobosa, Acacia seyal and A. macrostachya. Other tree species include Anogeissus leiocarpus, Bombax costatum, Combretum paniculatum and Pterocarpus erinaceus. The remainder of the site (c.60 ha) consists of plantations of exotic trees, especially Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus spp. and Gmelina arborea, together with open areas along the eastern border. The site is a virtual oasis being set in a densely populated countryside where the natural vegetation has been almost totally eliminated.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. Well over 200 species of birds have been recorded in the forest and on the adjacent barrages.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ouagadougou forest (Burkina Faso). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ouagadougou-forest-iba-burkina-faso on 23/12/2024.