Adapting to climate change through the development of a green belt in Ouagadougou

The rapid urban growth of Ouagadougou and Burkina Faso’s climate vulnerability make it necessary to explore nature-based solutions. The green belt, established in 1976 and relaunched in 2018, now combines reforestation, forest management, and urban agriculture, with the aim of containing urban sprawl, improving the local climate, and strengthening the capital’s resilience. This article takes a two-pronged approach: a diachronic analysis of Landsat images (1984–2024) and interviews with institutional actors, associative partners, and direct beneficiaries. The results show significant benefits: increased dense vegetation in certain areas, perceived improvement in air quality, creation of income-generating market gardening activities, and integration of vulnerable populations. They also reveal significant constraints: illegal occupation of a large proportion of the land, fragmented governance, limited access to water, security issues, and still-limited involvement of local residents. Finally, the article discusses the feasibility of a trajectory for 2050, between an optimistic scenario conditional on structural reforms and a critical scenario highlighting current limitations, and proposes lessons that can be transferred to urban adaptation policies in Sahelian metropolises.