In Guinea, about 500,000 refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone entered the Guinea Forest Zone between 1989 and 1995. In both areas refugees have settled alongside local people and both pursue similar livelihoods, using natural resources in similar ways. Indeed, there appears to be a high degree of cooperation and harmony between refugees, local people and local government in both countries. Although refugees tend to have poorer access to agricultural land and other natural resources, they do have access to food aid from international agencies. In general, refugees do not use natural resources in a more wasteful or damaging way than local people in either Senegal or Guinea.
Refugees normally respect local rules governing the use of natural resources.
However, some changes have occurred in the natural environment. For example, after the influx of refugees in the Senegal River Valley there was a reduction in the size of forests and an increase in areas of scrub and bare ground. Areas under cultivation also increased, but these changes were not directly caused by the influx of refugees. Indeed, local women have more impact on reducing tree cover as they use fuelwood for cooking, whereas refugees tend to use small amounts of animal dung. All rights reserved.