BEES ONG’s mission is to rehabilitate and improve the quality of natural resources – particularly wetlands and marine and forest ecosystems – for the wellbeing of local populations, through financially sustainable, ecologically and culturally responsible action.
Mission
Actions
BEES ONG’s overall goal is to promote sustainable development through biodiversity conservation, pursued through:
- building more sustainable livelihoods for local communities
- involving communities directly in environmental protection
- building political goodwill for protection measures such as protected areas and translating this into local benefits
- promoting cultural and natural heritage while strengthening local self-management capacity
- promoting education and public awareness – in schools and among local populations – on wetlands and green space protection for the sustainable use of natural resources.
History
BEES ONG traces its roots to the Rio-to-Johannesburg era of global environmental awakening. Founded in 2005 on the conviction that biodiversity and climate protection are a civilisational issue – humanity being accountable to future generations and to all other species – a group of Beninese experts responded to alarming scientific warnings about Africa’s accelerated warming and the extreme vulnerability of its ecosystems, including global declines of 52% in amphibians and 35% in birds, figures that illustrate the fragility of the Oueme basin. Officially recognised in 2009, BEES ONG mobilised top university specialists and committed volunteers to translate global environmental responsibility into concrete local conservation programmes, tackle species loss and climate change (especially in wetlands and marine protected areas), and promote a development model in harmony with biodiversity. Today, BEES ONG acts as both an advocacy and project-management organisation, turning international commitments into resilience models for Benin’s ecosystems and communities.
About
BEES ONG
Bénin
Porto-Novo