Biosphère

• Preserving, restoring and valorising the fisheries of the Mono Biosphere Reserve and Bouche du Roy Marine Protected Area – biodiversity monitoring (marine fisheries, nurseries, waterbirds), restoring mangrove ecosystems and nurseries, and environmental education in primary schools.

• Promoting fuelwood plantations and eco-friendly fuels – reforestation and maintenance of community/private energy-wood plantations, green fuel production units, and disseminating improved cookstoves and eco-fuels to schools and households.

• Strengthening food and nutrition security in the fishing areas – agroecological school gardens, food/nutrition education, supporting women and youth in agroforestry plots, and promoting mangrove rice and intensive rice cultivation systems.

BIOSPHERE was founded in 2019 by a group of young people native to the Mono Delta, a fishing area of south-western Benin. Returning from university, they became aware of severe natural resource degradation – disappeared or increasingly rare fish species, mangrove destruction, wetland artificialisation – and, crucially, that parents did not understand that declining fish stocks stemmed from poor practices, instead blaming the anger of the gods. They decided to champion nature’s cause to save and restore ecosystem services, giving rise to BIOSPHERE.