Benin Pendjari

Project Managers:

Up2green in partnership with Ecodec

Location:

Northwest Benin, Atacora Department, Municipality of Tanguiéta

Start of the Project:

2011

Achievements to Date:

Around 55,000 trees planted, benefiting over 1,000 individuals

Projections:

15,000 trees by 2022

Objectives:

Promote community awareness and behavioural change concerning environmental degradation;
Help restore damaged ecosystems;
Restore soil fertility;
Diversify income through fruit cultivation;
Combat bush fires;
Stop bushfires.

Concerned Ecosystem:

wooded savannah

Project Overview:

The initiative takes place in villages around the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve. Agriculture dominates local activities, supplemented by hunting and fishing. More than 80% of the local population relies on agriculture, which primarily generates income through cotton, tubers (yam and cassava), and cereals (rice, millet, sorghum, and maize). These crops, sometimes exploited intensively, deplete the soils in the Sahelian part of the country already prone to desertification. Overexploitation of wildlife and forest resources near Pendjari is also causing ecosystem degradation. This project aims to reintroduce a mix of fruit and fast-growing trees to restore timber and organic material to the soil and combat the advancing desertification in this area bordering the Sahel

Beneficiaries:

80% of the beneficiaries are farmers. Over 200 people have been involved since the project began, including some semi-nomadic Fulani herders transitioning to settled life. The project spans several distant villages, each with its own ethnic identity and language, posing challenges to effective community engagement.