Protected areas

Togo has a dense network of protected areas spread throughout the national territory.
There are up to 83 protected areas, most of which have suffered varying fortunes ranging from partial occupation to total invasion. Hence the reorientation of national policy towards the rehabilitation of the existing on a participatory basis. This process led to the establishment by decree of a national system of protected areas in Togo, the ultimate goal of which is to be able to categorize all protected areas in the country.

From 1937 until the end of 1980, Togo had 83 protected area sites covering approximately 14% of the country's land area.

Since the social and political unrest of the 1990s, the national network of protected areas has been seriously threatened with the overexploitation of natural resources, deforestation, agriculture and especially the establishment of residential settlements in protected areas. A process of rehabilitation and participatory management of protected areas has been under way since 1999. In this sense, the project called “project strengthening the conservation role of the national system of protected areas in Togo (PRAPT)” was financed by the FEM and other technical and financial partners (UEMOA, UNDP) with a compensation in kind and in cash from the Togolese government. It is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the main implementing agency is the Direction de la Faune et de la Chasse (DFC) of MERF.