Research interests

• Quantitative Ethnoecology
• Agroforestry
• Conservation ecology
• Plant ecophysiology
• Invasion biology

Background

I graduated from my MSc in 2014 at University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin). I examined the causes and the ecological impacts of elephant pressures on B. aethiopum demographic structure in National Park of Pendjari. My project was supported by Fellowship from University Commission for Development (Belgium) (2013-2014). Before my MSc, I completed an Engineer degree from the University of Abomey-Calavi. Currently, I am interested in how sustainably promote the management of Indigenous Fruit Trees (IFTs) under overexploitation by local people from West Africa as contribution to the tropical agrobiodiversity conservation.

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play important roles in the livelihoods of many rural and urban people across West Africa. However, the growing demand for NTFPs used for both subsistence uses and commercial trade has in many cases led to unsustainable management of forest resources. Among the exploited plant species by local people from West Africa, African locust bean appears as one agroforestry species which is reported to have important socio-economic and cultural values for local people. My current research aims to investigate the ecology, conservation and domestication of the African locust bean tree in Benin. As a result, this project fits into a global framework of the elaboration of conservation and domestication strategies for African locust bean as contribution to its utilization and sustainable management at countrywide.