Contribution of Communication to the Economic Evaluation of the Direct Use Value of Lake Dem in Burkina Faso

Abstract

In Burkina Faso, wetlands play an important role in the country’s economy. Dem Lake, one of the Ramsar sites of international importance inscribed in 2009, and is today facing severe degradation under the combined effect of climate change, poverty, population growth, and pressure from anthropogenic activities. Also, the goods and services of the Dem Lake ecosystems have not yet been studied to provide us with information on their costs. This lack of price leads local populations and political and private decision-makers to behave as if the value of the natural heritage is nil. The objective of this study is to assess the economic value of some supply services of Lake Dem. Thus, it is a question of identifying the main services provided by the lake and then estimating their economic value. The tool used is that of the market price technique. This technique measures the quantities of goods consumed or sold and determines the prices at which they are offered on the market. The research made it possible to identify consumer goods by sector of activity such as market gardening, agricultural production, fish production, grazing and the water resource provided by the ecosystem. Similarly, we were able to determine on the basis of the communication, the quantity of the various non-timber forest products that enter into household consumption. The results revealed that the total value of the supply services is estimated at more than two billion two hundred million francs (2,200,000,000) CFA. This estimate does not provide knowledge of the total economic value of Lake Dem, because it is only the direct use value of a few goods and services that have been assessed. Similarly, the indirect use, option and bequest values have not been assessed.