The NaturAfrica Programme, a breath of fresh air for the conservation of the Pendjari and W-Benin National Parks

As part of the conservation of the Pendjari and W-Benin national parks, the NGO African Parks is receiving support from the NaturAfrica programme through two funding agreements signed with the European Union Delegation in Benin.

The first grant agreement, entitled ‘Support for the development and implementation of an integrated and concerted conservation model for the WAP Benin Complex’, worth a total of EUR 3,100,000, was signed in 2023 for a period of three years.

The main objective is to manage the entire WAP complex in a holistic, coherent and harmonised manner, commensurate with the security challenges and enabling the major conservation and sustainable development issues to be addressed in the short, medium and long term. To achieve this objective, concrete actions are being implemented in both parks: ground and aerial surveillance, maintenance of water points for wildlife, and an aerial survey in April 2024, which updated estimates of elephant and buffalo populations in the Beninese part of the WAP complex, indicating a remarkable increase in elephant populations and a stabilisation of buffalo populations, as shown below.

Changes in elephant, buffalo and lion population abundance in the WAP Complex, 2021 to 2024

In order to strengthen harmony and community engagement, African Parks is implementing a community development support plan for local communities. Key activities under this plan, funded by the NaturAfrica programme, include the development of a land use plan for the area surrounding the W-Benin National Park and the updating of the plan for the Pendjari National Park, rehabilitating dams and boreholes for the benefit of communities and livestock, supporting education and developing income-generating activities such as beekeeping, baobab fruit collection and processing, and vegetable oil production.

The second financing contract, worth EUR 4 million, was signed in June 2025 for a period of 48 months from 2025 to 2028. It focuses on ‘supporting the socio-economic development of local communities on the outskirts of national parks in northern Benin’. Its objectives are: to strengthen the resilience of isolated communities living in and around protected areas in northern Benin in the face of security challenges; to improve equitable access to basic socio-community services for local and displaced populations living in isolated areas around the Pendjari and W parks; to strengthen local governance and synergies between actors for a coordinated and effective response to the impacts of the security crisis.

See photo gallery: “NaturAfrica programme support in and around the W and Pendjari national parks in northern Benin”