The theme in 2015 for World Wetlands Day is “Wetlands for our future”, but the Narbonnaise Mediterranean Regional Natural Park (NMRNP) has been putting this idea into practice since 2007 in an ongoing cooperation project with several communities in Benin.
In the framework of decentralised cooperation, and with support from the Rhone-Mediterranean-Corsican water agency, the Narbonnaise RNP (PNRNM) local authority commission signed an agreement in 2007 with five coastal communities in Benin grouped together in an intercommunity organisation.
New drinking fountains in the villages are a relief for women in their daily life
This exemplary cooperation between two Ramsar lagoon sites of international importance has enabled the communities in Benin to complete various actions linked to social and sanitary issues (access to drinking water and hygiene), economic development related to the lagoon environment (including agriculture, fishing, and tourism), as well as environmental protection by improving the conservation and management of local biodiversity.
Coastal lagoon in Benin near Cotonou
A delegation of representatives from the NMRNP visited this area last January and was able to observe the concrete, positive effects of this programme on local people and habitats.
Drinking fountains in the villages also limit diseases
Additional proof that international solidarity is a very concrete concept that also concerns wetlands, and that development and biodiversity are more compatible than ever before!
Photo credits: Narbonnaise Mediterranean Regional Natural Park (2015)