The Ramsar sites 1017 and 1018 in Benin are equipped with islands of sacred forests (FS) that are very rich in biodiversity,
representing a natural heritage of great value because of their multiple biological, ecological, socio-cultural and economic functions. These sacred forests are an endogenous form of conservation of biological diversity and play a crucial role in the lives of local populations. Currently, these forests are subject to severe degradation, which threatens the entire ecosystem of the sites and, therefore, the livelihoods of local populations. The basic information and data needed to develop a program for the restoration and sustainable management of these sites are lacking. This preliminary draft aims to gather the necessary information in order to assess the status of the sacred forests of these sites in order to prepare a project document for their restoration and sustainable management. The main products will be: (i) basic information on the SPs of Ramsar sites 1017 and 1018 is available, (ii) a project to support the sustainable management of these sites is developed and submitted to the ITTO.