Since the droughts of 1973-74 and 1984-85, the environment in Niger has undergone accelerated degradation. To reverse the trends, rural populations and the State of Niger, supported by several technical partners, have undertaken activities to restore the environment.
The present study focuses on some areas of these activities. It was conducted on a degraded site and a greened site in two areas in the department of Mayahi. Through this research work, the aim is to make a biophysical characterization of the wood resources of these two sites.
The methodology consisted first of a floristic survey in rectangular plots of 50m x 40m arranged along transects going from the center of the village to the bush. This made it possible to inventory the various species encountered, their coverings as well as their dendrometric parameters. An ethnobotanical survey conducted among the villagers made it possible to reconstruct the history (dynamics) of woody vegetation, the extinct, endangered, local, introduced and introduced species and finally the use of these species. For data analysis, we used the STATISTICA software. The analysis, carried out
by site, is based on a matrix of 48 surveys and 23 species. The density is 49 individuals/ha in the green site and 39 individuals/ha in the degraded site. The average coverage is denser in the reverdi site (2.78%) than in the degraded site (0.81%). For height, the majority of the woody plants at both sites are found in the classes of [1,5-2 [and [2-5 [. They represent 56.44% of the total individuals recorded in the reverdi site
and 67.04% in the degraded site. Regarding the diameter of the circumference, it is only at the level of the green site that we note the presence of individuals belonging to the class [15-25 cm [and individuals with a diameter of ≥ 25 cm].
The results obtained from the analysis made it possible to individualize 3 floristic groups in
each of the two sites, the most species-rich of which evolve on sandy textured soils.