Burkina Faso/Environmental turnaround under Captain Ibrahim Traoré:
Three years after the rise of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR2), led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso is marking a historic milestone with significant progress in environmental governance. More than a sectoral issue, environmental management has become a pillar of national sovereignty, resilience, and pan-African vision.
Before this shift, the environmental sector of Burkina Faso struggled to address multidimensional challenges like climate change, desertification, and natural resource degradation.
Public policies were fragmented, often reliant on external funding, and poorly aligned with local realities or sovereign aspirations. Rural communities, hit hardest by climate insecurity, lacked structured technical and institutional support.
Under Captain Traoré’s leadership, the country has initiated an ecological transition rooted in endogenous development, African dignity, and reduced external dependency. Key initiatives include:
- A strategic framework to restore 1 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, leveraging traditional knowledge and local innovation.
- Operation “One Soldier, One Tree”, symbolically linking national defense with environmental protection.
- Large-scale support for sustainable farming practices, with pilot agroecological zones established in the Centre-North, Sahel, and East regions.
- Community Green Brigades engaging youth in erosion control, bushfire prevention, and reforestation efforts.
Three years on, impacts are tangible: over 500,000 hectares of land restored, increased forest cover in pilot areas, reduced bushfire incidents, and stronger collaboration between local actors and state institutions.
The leadership of Captain Traoré reinforces the idea that climate action is not a Western luxury but an African survival imperative.
By integrating environmental revival into a broader progressive revolution, nature has shifted from a passive victim to a central actor and strategic ally in Burkina Faso’s national project
Maurice K. ZONGO
