Manual for managers of protected areas in African French speaking countries Background Protected areas in French speaking countries are very divers, from a national park with its public management to conservation areas managed by local communities. Whatever the case, these protected areas seem to develop less attention than PA from English speaking countries. In reason of a lower abundance of large mammals and of a less developed tourism history, these areas are less visited. Add to this the fact that most of the books dealing with the management of protected areas are written in English and so are no understood by most of the warden on the field. The idea to write a Manual for manager was born during training sessions where the new concepts of management were presented. The first objective was to collect all the presentations of the training sessions and to give them to a large panel of wardens. The second origin of the manual was a project of a book describing the life of a manager of a national park. Both ideas were incorporated into a single project: the manual. Development The main objective of the manual is to provide on a simple way answers to questions that are often asked by managers and wardens during their daily tasks. The manual would like to help managers to do other thinks than searching for publications and in particular their work on the field. Texts are written so that each subject is presented in a logical way to take a decision: what is the problem? what is the issue? Why is it important? When is it necessary to intervene? Who is the responsible? How to do? These questions are developed in different chapters dealing with the different aspects of the management. The authors The writing team is composed of 95 persons: managers of protected areas in France and in Africa, NGO representatives, veterinary, scientists... from 15 African French speaking countries, but also from English speaking countries (United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia). The objective was to share as much information as possible so to develop a very useful manual The manual It is published on a CDrom and send to as many protected areas as possible. All requests for the manual could be send to Patrick Triplet (patrick.triplet1(a)orange.fr) with the indication of the address and of the number. Its reference is: Triplet P. (2009) Manuel de gestion des aires protégées d’Afrique francophone. Awely, Ministère de l’écologie, 1234 p. It could be load at : http://www.awely.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=158&… There is a specific group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=171592822154 Patrick Patrick Triplet Syndicat Mixte Baie de Somme 1, place de l'Amiral Courbet F 80 100 Abbeville +33 (0)6 86 67 97 92 The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.