Colonial Scientific Forestry and its Challenges: The Creation of Forest Reserves and Local Resistance in the Gambia

Forest reserves were central to the sustainable management of forest resources within colonial territories, which is not any different in the Gambia. However, there is little or no evidence on colonial scientific forestry and its challenges with respect to the creation of forest reserves and local resistance in the Gambia. The study adopted a systematic review of the literature, which used the Preferred Items for Reporting Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) to select sixteen (16) studies. The study showed that the main aim of colonial scientific forestry was to rationalise forest management through mapping, classification, and conservation of timber resources for colonial economic interests. The study found that forest reserves restricted local access to vital land and forest resources, which were often culturally significant. The study revealed that the barrier to sustainably implementing scientific forestry was largely due to underfunding, weak institutional capacity, and external pressure from timber and agricultural sectors. The findings showed that colonial policies in the Gambia laid the groundwork for continued centralised governance, but recent shifts favour participatory and hybrid models. The study concludes that the implementation of forest reserves, while justified under the guise of ecological conservation, served more to reinforce colonial authority and economic interests at the expense of indigenous land rights and cultural practices.