The management of agroforestry parklands around protected areas should be sustainable to guarantee the persistence of biodiversity in these parklands and also contribute to preserving the ecological integrity of the protected areas. However, several factors related to the social status of the farmer driving the knowledge and management practices of agroforestry biodiversity hinder the sustainable management of parklands and indirectly threat biodiversity conservation in protected areas. A better understanding of these factors could suggest more sustainable management strategies that offer more protection. This study aims to determine the influence of the social status of the farmer (residence status, ethnicity and land tenure) and the proximity of protected areas on the management practices (agriculture and silviculture) and the floristic diversity and diameter structure of agroforestry parklands. The data was collected from a sample of 60 farms coupled with agroforestry parklands around the wildlife corridor of Pô-Nazinga-Sissili protected areas in Burkina Faso, considering the distance from the parkland to the protected area and the social status of the farmer. Semi-structured interviews followed by floristic inventories were conducted. A factorial analysis of mixed data was performed to determine the relationship between social status of farmers, agroforestry management practices, parkland plot distance from protected area and plot species richness in the parklands. The results first show that the use of agrochemical inputs is common to all farmers. Second, the management of agroforestry parklands depends on the social status of the farmer. Third, the agroforestry parklands nearest to the protected area had more stable structural parameters, higher species richness and natural regeneration rate compared to agroforestry parklands far from the protected area. The parklands nearest to the protected area are managed by migrant farmers who use the protected area to meet their needs for timber and non-timber forest products. In addition, the proximity of the protected area favours the seeding and regeneration of these parklands in which migrants can only practice assisted natural regeneration without land tenure constraints, but not tree planting because of their particular land tenure position. In order to better conserve the protected area and its surroundings, it is imperative to promote sustainable management practices in agroforestry parklands improving regeneration and ecosystem services while minimising the use of agrochemical inputs widely practiced in the study area.

Land tenure, Fallow, Assisted natural regeneration, Biodiversity