Cotonou, BENIN, 27 March, 2023 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/ —The World Bank today announced new support for Benin to strengthen sustainable forest management to boost climate resilience and create opportunities for local communities whose livelihoods depend on forest resources from the endangered gazetted forests in the southern, central, and northern regions of the country.

This new $30 million operation is an additional financing aimed at improving the outcomes of the Benin Gazetted Forests Management project (GFM), thus contributing to achieve the project’s initial objective. Namely, to restore 22,000 hectares of forests while ensuring an integrated management of targeted classified forests to increase sustainably produced fuelwood for major cities and develop forest products value chains for rural communities.

Launched in 2019 with $75 million, a part of the amount allocated to the GFM – $15 million – was redirected to the Covid-19 Emergency Funds in 2020 to help fight the pandemic, thereby disrupting the implementation of several key components. Despite this restructuring, village communities’ active participation in the project’s reforestation activities has helped restore nearly 18,000 hectares of degraded forests.

“This additional financing will reinstate innovative activities such as the promotion of sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural intensification and the development of non-timber forest product value chains, such as shea.  Overall, it will strengthen the value chains on which a large part of the population depends for survival,” said Atou Seck, World Bank Country Manager for Benin. “In high shea production areas, the project will strengthen the shea value chain, promote energy-efficient processing methods, and establish new shea plantations to replace aging and less productive trees, in order to boost the incomes of local communities surrounding the targeted classified forests.”