Benin

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Reforestation

We have trained farmers in the different stages of reforestation, from the production of seedlings in the nursery to guarding, including planting techniques, staking, construction and maintenance of firebreaks. We have gone from forest predators to reforestation experts and craftsmen

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Agroforestry

Agroforestry as a practice of mixing trees with crops, the idea may also surprise and make more than one farmer jump, but it is the essence of agroforestry: planting rows of walnut trees in a field of cereals, growing vegetables under tree cover, maintaining shrubby hedges regularly spaced in a field, transforming a vegetable garden into a forest garden, surrounding fields with hedges to form a bocage, grazing animals in a meadow. It is sometimes called “agroforestry park” or “evergreen agriculture”, and the trees there have multiple uses: wood, food, medicine, fiber, fodder, resin, latex, tannin, etc. We use the leaves, the wood, the fruits, but also the roots, the branches and the flowers.

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Preservation of the Parks

In Benin, around the parks, the associations support the local populations in the development of arboreal product sectors. By using permaculture and agroforestry as agricultural models, they help to manage resources sustainably, combat desertification and preserve park biodiversity. Here are the main activities:

• Develop sustainable agricultural techniques (agroforestry and permaculture),
• Develop economic sectors of tree products with high profitability;
• Sensitize and involve local populations in the protection of their environment;
• Improve food security

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Restoration of degraded, denuded and abandoned lands

The main measure to restore degraded lands will consist in reforesting them or protecting them in order to make them islands of urban or peri-urban communal secondary forests. These areas could also be favored areas within the framework of actions aimed at promoting the establishment of private plantations within the framework of the promotion of the forest economy. The implementation of these measures and their sustainability would require strengthening the institutional and legal framework for the governance of urban or peri-urban forests as well as protected areas in the private, municipal or community domain. Some feasibility studies are currently underway at the level of the Beninese Agency for the Environment (ABE) with a view to setting up a restoration plan for these lands, particularly in the quarrying areas.

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Replenishment and improved management of existing plantations

In Benin, the exploitation and maintenance of the forest must be carried out with the involvement of the population. Logging must comply with the conditions set out in the management plan drawn up in collaboration with the Forestry Administration. By populations, we mean all the villages dependent on the forest resources in question. They actively participate in the search for opportunities for forest production, the definition of authorizations and prohibitions, and the distribution of roles and responsibilities in terms of supervising the proper execution of activities. Two types of forest management plans are drawn up and approved by the Forestry Administration: for the classified domain and for the protected domain. As indicated in the Forest Code, in classified forests, any land use is strictly prohibited unless authorized by a forest or environmental management plan.

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Promotion of alternative sources of livelihoods and alternative energies

In the energy sector, efforts will be made with the support of partners to promote alternative and income-generating activities by capitalizing especially on the achievements and results of actions carried out within the framework of the projects. These include, for example, the Program for the Management of Forests and Riparian Land Additional Financing (PGFTR-FA), the Support Project for Entente Parks (PAPE) and the Support Project for the Management of Protected Areas (PAGAP) which support the development of income-generating activities around classified forests for the first and national parks for the other two. Ongoing policy reforms in the energy sector also aim to facilitate the access of urban households to butane gas cooking equipment as an alternative to the use of coal, particularly in urban areas.

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Promotion of the forest economy

In Benin, the contribution of commercial forests and private plantations is considerably low and represents less than 5% of the total forest area at the national level. The main measure to reverse this trend is to promote the forest economy through the establishment of a set of incentive measures to facilitate private investment in the creation of plantations and private or commercial forests to meet the different needs. wood populations and other wood products. Thus, the ambition is to cover at least 40% of the national demand for wood energy and timber or service by private and commercial plantations and forests by 2030, with the vision of reaching 70 % in 2050.

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Development of fruit tree cultivation

In the central region hotspots, the focus will be on promoting cashew trees and short-cycle shea plantations as a strategy to restore degraded lands. Important actions are already underway with the support of UNDP and GEF in the context of the cashew sector, and will be expanded and diversified with a view to achieving LDN in Benin. In the semi-arid regions in the North where the livelihoods of the populations are seriously threatened by desertification and drought, the reorientation of the agricultural policy could relate to the promotion of the sectors of certain ligneous species of the semi-arid regions with high added value for export but also for the local economy such as gum arabic and date palm.

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Protection and restoration of mangroves and other wetlands

During the period 2000-2010, i.e. in 13 years, the extent of watercourses and wetlands decreased by 11%, with also a rapid degradation of the vegetation cover resulting in a drop in primary productivity. To reverse this trend, emphasis has been placed on sanitation and the sustainable management of household solid waste, which is the main cause of congestion and degradation of wetlands. To achieve this, ongoing initiatives and efforts under the “Green Cities” initiative will be strengthened and scaled up.

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Resource mobilization

At the national level, the Government intends to strengthen the framework for public investment and the mobilization of domestic resources for the restoration of forest landscapes and degraded ecosystems through the National Forest Development Fund (FNDF), the National Fund for the Environment and Climate (FNEC) and the Municipal Development Support Fund (FADeC), and specifically "FADeC Agriculture". The polluter-pays principle, which is the main resource mobilization mechanism for these national instruments, will be generalized and applied to all economic sectors. Apart from efforts to mobilize domestic resources, the Government intends to strengthen Benin's capacity to mobilize external resources, in particular innovative climate financing such as the GEF, the GCF, the Adaptation Fund, the NDT Fund, the for Climate Investment (CIF) as well as the various funds set up by regional banks and institutions such as the African Development Bank (ADB), the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the West African Savanes Foundation (FSOA ), etc.