Issa Laye Thiaw

Issa Laye Thiaw (1943 – 10 September 2017) was a Senegalese historian, theologian and author on Serer religion, Serer tradition and history. Born into a Serer family, himself the son of a Serer High Priest (Saltigue), Thiaw is a specialist in the Serer religion. He was a former researcher at the Centre d’études des civilisations (CEC; Centre for Studies in Civilizations) of Dakar. Quotes I am a Master’s student in Geography at UCAD (Dakar University in Senegal), specializing in Biogeography, a field I chose because it connects science to the daily life of communities. Over the next year, I will lead a study on the potential and stewardship of wild fruit trees in the Ndiambour Classified Forest Reserve. This work matters to me because fruit trees are not only species to list; they are part of people’s food, income, memory, and identity. This work will help to understand how local households use, value, and conserve these resources socially, economically, and environmentally and what strategies communities and institutions already deploy to protect them. By documenting these practices clearly, I hope to provide practical insights that communities, foresters, and municipal leaders can use to strengthen conservation and livelihoods. I will survey households in localities 4–5 km from the forest edge to capture dependence, pressures, and perceptions. I will also interview stakeholders directly involved in stewardship: water & forest rangers, municipal authorities, village chiefs, and local organizations, to map roles, challenges, and opportunities. Finally, I will conduct botanical inventories inside the forest to identify species and estimate the standing potential of wild fruit trees. Together, these methods should produce a coherent picture: how much is there, who uses it, why it matters, and how it is (or isn’t) protected. I am grateful for your trust. My commitment is simple: to produce reliable, useful results, grounded in good science and the lived realities of the people who know this forest best. Thank you for accompanying me on this path.