ACPC and Benin at work to achieve a green Africa!

Benin's Minister of Environment, in charge of Climate Change Management, Reforestation and Protection of Natural Resources and Forestry, Mr. Raphael EDOU, following his active contribution to the discussions of the Fourth Conference on Climate Change and development of Africa (CCDA-IV), provided his assessment of the partnership between his country and the ACPC to the ClimDev-Africa Reporting Team. On this occasion, he presented the "10 million-souls 10 million-trees" project initiated by the President of Benin and supported by the ACPC in a bid to reforest Benin and promote a green Africa.

Honorable Minister, your department has recently entered in partnership with the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC). What are the reasons that led to this partnership?

I must say that we understood the objectives of the ACPC, an initiative of the ECA, a Centre that seeks primarily to build the capacity of African institutions, and to provide support to actual projects on the ground.

On the basis of the objectives that are set out, we sought the Centre’s assistance and –frankly speaking, we were not disappointed. They were very practical in their approach.  We collaborated with the multidisciplinary team that they dispatched and thereafter, the Director of the Division of Special Initiatives, Dr. Fatima Denton, herself came to our country.

These are all the reasons which prompted us to leave our schedules behind in order to come and attend this Fourth Conference.

What is the content of this emerging partnership?

The emerging partnership with the ACPC comes in support of our presidential programme, initiated by President Boni Yayi; an initiative to combat climate change dubbed "10 million-souls 10 million-trees". This means we are 10 million Beninese and we need to plant every year, a yearly plan for each Beninese, women and men included, which means 10 million trees planted every year for 5 years. This programme, which was launched a year ago, is now operational.

ACPC understood the challenge facing this programme; and during our discussions, it expressed its willingness to provide support to the programme by strengthening reforestation projects, building the capacity of actors involved in reforestation, and more importantly to enhance the Department's access to more resources to assist its fight against climate change and its impacts.

The Benin Reforestation Programme has also a regional component. The goal in the long run is to realize a green Africa. If Benin focuses on reforestation and we manage to succeed, it is important that the other countries in the sub-region do the same. This is an important aspect of the project. So the programme has a regional dimension to generate interest in other countries and to achieve the goal of a green Africa.

You have outlined the content of the partnership, what struck you the most in this partnership?

What struck me in this partnership is first and foremost the concern of ACPC officials to take meaningful actions to control and manage the impacts of climate change, and their willingness to support our countries in taking actions that would actually impact the lives of our people. This is a key element that we are often fail to get from institutions. This Programme is quite determined that we provide a more meaningful contribution to our people. Because this is what the debate is all about. What are the things we can do with our people to deal with the effects of climate change.

How do you assess the CCDA-IV?

I would like to say that the Conference theme itself is paramount, how Africa can feed itself using the knowledge we have in terms of climate change management.

You know, a population that fails to feed itself cannot go far; you have to eat first before anything else; and to achieve food self-sufficiency, we have to produce, we have to have the resources to do so.

This point was made clear to us from the discussions at this conference, which brought together experts and mobilized institutions from our various countries to take part.

We have seen the participation of several ministers, which is an important aspect, as well as the various institutions engaged in this area. It was really a conference of practical exchanges. The concern of the conference that I particularly endorse is asking the question of what we are doing in actual terms, what are the actions we are taking on the ground to tackle climate change?

The different panels we moderated with other colleagues as well as the various discussions held in the parallel sessions clearly highlighted ACPC’s concern. It proved to us that the future will be better for us if we improve our ways of managing climate change. The onus is now on us, the countries, to take ownership of the various directions, the various recommendations to ensure the implementation of actions in our countries.

Are you convinced that Benin can feed Benin?

It is worth mentioning that Benin has been successful, with regards to the management of its budget, in observing the Maputo agreement which requires that at least 10% of the annual national budget be allocated to agriculture. Benin has exceeded 11% and the President of Benin was even awarded an FAO prize for having totally reduced hunger. We have managed to reduce hunger completely. And you know, in Benin, we have a problem of agricultural overproduction and we are forced to export some of our products to neighbouring countries.

The farmers are no longer able to sell maize and other food crops on the local market.

This is the result of the agricultural policy set up by the government which has proven successful, through the provision of required inputs to farmers and significant technical support to agricultural extension programs.

All these elements testify to the great strides made by Benin. But we are now working for sustainability. We need to have a robust land management and use to address climate change and ensure that the adverse effects don’t impact negatively our achievements in the long run.

Agriculture represents an important share of our GDP, and that is why the efforts made today in Benin show that the country was able to achieve food self-sufficiency and has the potential to stay the course.