REGIONAL REPORT Contradictions and Conflicts in Environmental Planning: A Case Study of the Plan d’Action National pour

An exploration of the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) in Burk-ina Faso illustrates the difficulties of sectorial planning for improved natural resource management. Tracing the history of development planning and the background of the preparation of environmental action plans in numerous African countries leads to an assessment of the results and impact of the NEAP in Burkina Faso. It is argued that the NEAP has played only a marginal role in tackling the environmental problems of the country. The lack ofparticipation in preparation, institutional confusion, and insufficient analysis of the main causes of environmental degradation as well as the failure to identify costs and benefits of specific resource management improvements are amongst shortcom-ings of the plan. The article concludes that to encourage more investment in better resource management, this will require greater integration of environ-mental concerns in economic policy making. In the aftermath of the work of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission for Environment and Development, 1987) and the &dquo;Rio&dquo; Conference on Environment and Development, which culminated in the adoption of the &dquo;Agenda 21&dquo; strategy (Umted Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 1992), there has been a tremendous upsurge in concern about sustainable development. The environment has become an increasing priority in policy making in both industrialised and developing countries. This has included the preparation of action plans for environmental management. In some countries where fragile agro-ecological conditions combined with low standards of living present significant development chal-lenges-such as those in Sahelian West Africa-the design of sustainable development strategies is particularly important in that improved man-agement of natural resources is fundamental to economic growth. Suc