June 1992 was, for the International Community, a moment of global alarm
in the face of the threat posed by the degradation of ecosystems and the loss of animal and
plant species on the planet. Indeed, by concluding the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) the Convention on Biological Diversity,
many efforts are being made to restore the environmental balance in general and to
restore the fullness of Biological Diversity in their respective habitats in particular.
Benin, which did not miss the UNCED meeting, had signed, among other things,
the Convention on Biological Diversity, which it ratified in June 1994.
It is through these actions that Benin has demonstrated before the world its political will and its
determination to contribute to the conservation of Biological Diversity, whose importance for
the evolution and preservation of the systems that maintain life on Earth is well
established. As part of the implementation of this Convention, it was prescribed the development of the National
Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity accompanied by an Action Plan.
In response to this international obligation, like the
other Parties to the Convention, Benin has received financial support from the Global Environment Facility
(GEF) to develop its strategy.
The process was entirely participatory and involved all the representatives of the
target groups involved in the management of biological diversity in Benin, namely: women, civil
society, local communities at the grassroots, development associations, farmers' associations, associations of professionals in Biological Diversity (hunters, fishermen
, associations of professionals in Biological Diversity
(hunters, fishermen, forest operators, sculptors, basket weavers, trophies and plant traders).
medicinal products, etc.). Thus designed, this document is the result of a national consensus on the future of biological
resources in Benin. It reflects a collective awareness of the relationship that
must henceforth govern activity between populations and their natural environment, of the
need to support ecosystems and the integrity of the living organisms they contain.