How fish save sacred forests

Safourath Seïou, a young farmer living in Bourandou, a community in Benin’s northeastern Bembèrèkè municipality, could never have imagined that she would one day engage in fish farming in the middle of a forest. Of around 3,000 villagers directly impacted by FNEC’s small grants programme for local climate and biodiversity action across the country, she is transforming how she makes a livelihood. “I did not know you could farm fish like this. With FNEC I learnt how to grow and feed them, everything.” The transition to fish farming, beekeeping, or other sustainable sources of income also relieves the biodiversity of the Sinatabé forest, as the local communities exploit it less, for instance, by collecting firewood or converting the forest into farmland.

For Dr. Apollinaire Gnanvi, director of Benin’s FNEC, this is the sort of impact he had envisioned with the fund’s small-grant initiative for climate and biodiversity action. With a 670,000 euro grant from Germany’s IKI Small Grants in 2021, the funding institution conducted a nation-wide call for proposals and financed five projects managed and run by Beninese non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in local communities.

“The impacts are multiple and diverse,” Gnanvi explains. “Overall, living conditions have improved for populations, especially those near forests.” Besides around 3,000 people directly benefiting from the NGOs’ activities, Gnanvi adds, “almost 3,000 hectares of land have been restored.” This is the equivalent of about 4,000 soccer fields.

In Benin, classified as one of the least-developed countries, forests and pastures are important sources of livelihoods, sustenance and social cohesion in communities. Besides feeling the effects of climate change, the country’s nature reserves and ecosystems are under demographic pressure, suffering from over-exploitation due to poverty and food insecurity in areas near the forests. With support from IKI Small Grants, the focus of FNEC’s programme was to adapt agricultural practices to climate change, protect biodiversity, manage pastures, and sustainably develop resources for generating incomes without affecting the environment and biodiversity adversely. Conducting its own call for proposals, 40 project ideas were submitted. Five NGOs received financial and technical support of up to 90,000 euros each. 

New sources of income for local communities 

For example, the NGO Association Féminine pour une Jeunesse Epanouie (AFEJE) worked with FNEC to counter forest degradation by restoring vegetation and establishing sustainable land use methods. In the forest’s surrounding areas, they trained local communities in sustainable land management and created alternative income opportunities, including beekeeping, sustainable fisheries, and rabbit breeding. For Pierre Adje Assogba from AFEJE, the project benefits both nature and people: “Regenerating nature allows inhabitants a better quality of life and income without exerting pressure on the forests. The forest is secured.” For FNEC’s director, Appolinaire Gnanvi, economic empowerment goes hand in hand with nature conservation. “People now have income-generating activities. And these projects improve economic, social as well as environmental conditions,” he states.

Key to safeguarding sustainable development, the projects also focused on improving the role of women in local communities. Gnanvi explains a substantial outcome is “the involvement of women in decision-making processes at the communal level. This is significant because, in the past, women did not participate in decision-making.” Their participation now allows them to be spokespersons in their communities. Their needs and vulnerabilities are addressed, and by giving them a chance to earn their own incomes, women are earning more money than before. This means says Gnanvi, “women can invest part of the income they earn in their children's education.”

The future for FNEC

The success of the projects has led to further cooperation with the funding programme, mobilising more funds and support for climate change adaptation in Benin. “We started working with IKI Small Grants in 2021 and completed the first generation of projects with significant results. IKI Small Grants recognised it by endorsing another funding round,” Gnanvi remarks. Three successful projects from the first call for proposals were chosen for scaling up in other similar affected regions - this time financed with a significant amount of FNEC’s own resources. For funding institutions like FNEC, cooperating with the IKI was an investment in their institutional future, and a stepping stone for receiving larger funding. In early 2025, Gnanvi explains FNEC has managed to accrue $16 million from the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund.

In Sinatabé forest, funding and support from the project feels very close and very real. Local communities are restoring and conserving woodlands. Trees are protected from felling. Local ranger Désiré Mignanwindé explains, “last year, all these areas were deserted and used for agricultural activities. Now, they are completely covered. It is very rare to see forest areas gaining over agricultural land. This is a true innovation.” 

The innovation, however, lies in a return to a shared sense of ownership and respect for the forest, which is considered sacred to the local population – and key to local social cohesion. As Solange Akochamou, a village inhabitant, notes, “Other forests have suffered bushfires. We do not have this problem. Everyone now understands this forest is untouchable.”