The Ouémé River and delta is the largest system of Benin Republic providing vital ecosystem services for the livelihoods of many millions of people. Unfortunately population pressure and unsustainable infrastructure development, inadequate management of natural habitats and resources, and pollution threaten the productivity of coastal ecosystems. Moreover, today climate change is a major threat to sustainable development due to Benin low adaptive capacity and high dependency on climate-sensitive resources, such as water resources and ecological systems. In order to contribute to the long-term sustainable development of the delta system, several key experts (NGO, Academic, and Government) have now set up the Benin Delta Wing under the Delta Alliance.

On 28 September 2018 in Delft (The Netherlands) the membership of Benin as Delta Alliance Wing came into place.

The Delta Alliance is an international knowledge-driven network organisation with the mission of improving the resilience of the world’s deltas. Delta Alliance brings people together who live and work in deltas. Benin joined the 18 international deltas of the Delta Alliance following for the African continent Ghana, Egypt, and Kenya.
The Delta Alliance now consists of 19 Wings from 16 countries.

First things first
The Benin Wing is built up by the following organisations and research institutes: the National Institute of Water, the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, the Benin Environment and Education Society NGO and the Benin Global Water Partnership. They form the Steering Committee who will submit a first Ouémé Delta status report this year.This report, which will constitute of the baseline scenario and a reference for our actions, will be established in a participatory approach. First of all, primary and secondary data on the current state of the Ouémé delta dynamic will be collected and validated at the municipality level for strong involvement from the beginning. Next to that other stakeholders such as the UNDP, the Dutch Embassy and the French Development Agency are involved. We have also targeted the management agencies of some regional programmes such as West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACCA) of the World Bank, OmiDelta of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. There will also be a strong involvement of the Ministry of Water through the National Office of Water and the Ouémé Basin Committee as well as the Benin Environmental Agency and private sector representatives.

Contact
Wing Coordinator: Maximin Djondo,  Executive Director for Benin Environment and Education Society (BEES NGO)

>> Read more: Benin Wing pages