Tools for management and Sustainable Use of Natural vegetetation in West Africa

SUN works to develop new, practical management tools and concrete management actions for improved sustainable use of natural vegetation by combining scientific vegetation data, remote sensing and socio-economic information with local people's knowledge and needs.

SUN combines three types of activities:

~ Interdisciplinary research on vegetation dynamics, causal factors and economic instruments to enhance sustainable economic growth.

~ Development of new decision support tools for improved natural resource management - by organising scientific data.

~ New low-budget management and restoration actions - in collaboration between scientists and local people.

SUN includes ~50 West African and European scientists and phd students within vegetation-ecology, socio-economy, ethnoecology and remote sensing.

SUN is financed by the European Union (FP6).