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The Focali theme “Making REDD work for the poor” is interested in exploring the potential impacts of REDD+ on the livelihoods of poor people. REDD+ will be implemented in many different contexts and impacts on rural livelihoods will to be very different, depending on local circumstances. We intend to conduct several studies, in different national and local contexts in order to get a broader picture of the potential impacts of REDD+. This report is a first step in our study of Burkina Faso. The purpose of the report is to provide an up-to-date overview of issues relating to forests and livelihoods in Burkina Faso, and to provide guidance in relation to the development of pro-poor REDD policies in the light of that overview. The two main parts of the report are a literature review of rural livelihoods literature in Burkina Faso from a REDD+ perspective and a local case study of a forest management area. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of the report for future policy and research agendas.

Burkina Faso is one of eight pilot countries of the Forest Investment Program (FIP). Although the country’s forests have relatively low carbon content, there is hope that Burkina Faso can provide lessons learned to be replicated in other countries with tropical semi-arid lands. Burkina Faso is believed to have good institutional capacity for dealing with issues of rural development, forests and environment. However, our study indicates that the reality is not quite that simple.