The defense of ecological areas that are degraded or threatened with degradation by natural factors or by the effect of human activities has been initiated by the Watersheds Programme projects since their first year of existence.
At the socio-cultural level, defence does not constitute an innovation in the areas of intervention of the Watersheds Programme. The “tone” (which in Malinké means defense) has existed for a long time in the zone. It was the arrival of a police forest administration that operated differently that changed habits and put on the back burner the traditional practice that had hitherto shown its effectiveness.