The impacts of human activities have serious consequences for vegetation cover and the survival of plant species. This is the case of the Soubré Biodiversity Refuge Area, located in the southwest of Côte d'Ivoire. The general objective of this study is to assess the floristic diversity and the level of plant species recovery of the Soubré dam biodiversity refuge area since the dam was impounded. The methodology consisted of the installation of 29 plots of 20 x 20 m (400 m 2 ) and a systematic inventory of the flora within them. At the end of these inventories, it emerged that the flora of the refuge zone is rich in 143 species divided into 118 genera and 53 families. The area is dominated by small diameter stems. The high pioneer index in the former rubber tree cultivation reflects the very low reconstitution in this habitat.

The mountainous relief of the West of Côte d'Ivoire and the large savannahs next to forests didn’t make this zone very excellent for cocoa production. However, for the last decade, an important influx of farming population has been observed in this area. The objective of this study is to analyze the dynamics of the settlement of migrant farmers in the West region of Côte d’Ivoire, using the department of Biankouma as a case of study. So, individual surveys were conducted among 203 cocoa farmers from 15 villages in the department of Biankouma, who had migrated to this region, It was found that the majority of these farmers are natives of Côte d'Ivoire (38.3%) and non-natives (33.5%) from countries in the West Africa region. The migratory flow to this region is mainly internal, with 95.6% of farmers coming from 11 Districts and 55 localities in the country. While initially (i.e., before 1985), farmers came from towns near Duékoué (11.8%), these waves of movement from towns in neighboring districts (Bas-Sassandra and Sassandra-Marahoué) to the Western Region will experience their highest rates between 2002 and 2013. Observations drawn from our research findings support the hypothesis that the political-military crisis that the country has experienced has accentuated migratory flows of farmers for cocoa production in western Côte d'Ivoire and these migratory flows could be the cause of the degradation of forest cover in the Biankouma Department.