As in the past, Togo is no longer a country renowned for its parks and wildlife reserves, even though it has, from North to South, all the variability of Sudanese to Guinean ecosystems, and interesting altitude zones in the center of the country. This is mainly due to the state of degradation of ecosystems and their lack of effective
management since the beginning of the 1990s, when, as part of social and political movements, local populations invaded most of the country's conservation areas.

The network of protected areas is no longer made up of intact (native biodiversity) and exemplary ecosystems: only the Abdoulaye Wildlife Reserve, the Fazao and Oti-Kéran National Parks (central core) still have relatively little modified areas (however, the pressure of cotton cultivation is strong in Abdoulaye). Overall, wildlife
diversity remains very threatened, such as populations of elephants, hippopotamuses, etc. Lions, which have since appeared in the Oti-Kéran area, are no longer noted there. Moreover, the network of protected areas is not representative of the full diversity of the country's ecosystems because there is no marine protected area and mangrove formations are under-represented. Finally, Lake Togo, which is home to the Manatee, is not protected.

Togo's protected areas are under strong pressure, mainly due to the influence of populations. The main pressures identified are poaching and fishing, logging, other human activities caused by population growth, uncontrolled bushfires, and the harvesting of non-wood forest products.
The areas under the greatest pressure are the parks of Oti-Kéran and Fazao, and the Oti-Mandouri Wildlife Reserve. Land pressure has also led to the disappearance of the Fosse aux Lions park and the blocking of the elephant passage corridor. Illegal activities are difficult to monitor in all areas of the country.

Law enforcement is weak everywhere, in part due to political pressure on park managers to allow shoreline populations to exploit certain resources. However, some positive points should be highlighted, such as the ratification of the various international conventions on biological diversity by the country, a variety
of legislative texts for the protection and exploitation of fauna and flora and the environment, and the defence of at least 10 per cent of the territory as protected areas. Wildlife and plant potential remains and could offer an opportunity for the development and development of several tourist sites.

The country has embarked on a program to reclassify protected areas, which has made it possible to partly restore dialogue with local populations and forest administration. Thus, ten so-called priority protected areas were re-delimited by consensus. Of these, only six were requalified. The process of requalification of the areas of Oti-Mandouri and Oti-Keran is under way. The existence of Village Associations for Participatory Management of Protected Areas (AVGAP) as well as the resumption of international cooperation are also encouraging elements. However, some penalizing aspects persist, such as the lack of human resources and certain inconsistencies in the institutional framework (for example, regional directors are attached to the General Secretariat, while conservators depend on the Department of Wildlife and Hunting). The absence of a decree implementing certain environmental laws, the inadequacy of certain laws considered obsolete, the absence of inventories and zoning of parks, the weakness of budgets for operation, the abusive harvesting of wildlife and wood by certain “dressed bodies”, in particular by the military, the lack of training and/or retraining of personnel, the lack of benefits for the populations, and the non-satisfaction of their grievances... are as many barriers to effective park management. In fact, no park has In

the end, the overall effectiveness of the management of the country's network of protected areas seems very low, and the following recommendations have been proposed to try to remedy this situation in the short and medium term.