Area: 65 km2
Location: West of Guinea-Bissau, East of the Bijagos archipelago
Number of inhabitants:
Yearly: 10,014
Protected island: yes
Terrestrial protection status: biosphere reserve of the Man and the Biosphere program (UNESCO)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Former capital of the country, Bolama is the most populous island of the Bijagos archipelago, ahead of Bubaque. It is home to more than half of the inhabitants of the archipelago, of which it is today the regional capital. Bolama is characterized by great biological richness, due to the great diversity of its terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION
The island of Bolama is one of the 88 islands of the Bijagos archipelago, the only deltaic archipelago on the African Atlantic coast (formed by the ancient deltas of Rio Ceba and Rio Grande), which extends over nearly 10 000 km² off Guinea-Bissau. Bolama is the closest island to the mainland.
SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT
The city of Bolama was once the capital city of Guinea Bissau (between 1879 and 1941). The capital has been changed to Bissau in 1941 because of a shortage of fresh water. The center of Bolama has many examples of colonial architecture; built heritage that unfortunately deteriorates very quickly due to lack of maintenance.
The Bijagos archipelago has nearly 25,000 inhabitants, mostly of the Bijago ethnic group. 22 islands, including Bolama, are inhabited. Most of the inhabitants are concentrated in the towns of Bubaque and Bolama. Bolama Island accounts for almost half of the inhabitants of the archipelago.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
The main activities of the archipelago are agriculture and fishing. People cultivate rice, breed, exploit wild palm trees, orchards and practice horticulture there. In addition, the cultivation of cashew nuts, mainly for export, is particularly important on the island of Bolama.
Most of the animal protein comes from shellfish collected by women on mudflats and from fishing. Traditionally, the fish are caught with hawks or with wicker or stone structures that hold them at low tide.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
The Bijagos archipelago has a great diversity of ecosystems: mangroves associated with intertidal zones, mudflats, palm groves, dry, semi-humid and secondary forests, coastal savannah zones, bands of sand etc.
The many rivers that drain the archipelago discharge nutrients into the sea, which justifies the exceptional productivity of marine areas, spawning and reproduction sites for many species of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, Nile crocodiles and hippos.
SPECIFIC ISSUES
For 20 years, the Bijagos archipelago has been under a lot of pressure and greed. Fishermen from countries in the area where fish stocks are degraded organize poaching there, in particular to collect sharks destined for Asian markets, a very profitable illegal practice. Tourism operators perceive the potential of these territories but do not necessarily integrate the factors of respect for environmental and social balances into their forward-looking approaches.
The monetization of agriculture is pushing certain communities to transform the areas traditionally reserved for palm groves and fallow land for the cultivation of cashew nuts. Finally, the site is coveted by oil operators and mega infrastructure projects that could disrupt the social and territorial organization of the island.