New approaches for climate and biodiversity action

One of the funded NGOs called Organisation pour le Développement des Initiatives à la Base (ODIB) implements a land restoration project in the Houéyogbé commune to strengthen food security resilience. © FNEC
  • Country: Benin
  • Organisation: Fonds National pour l’Environnement et le Climat (FNEC)
  • Support area: Adaptation to the consequences of climate change, Conserving biological diversity, Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions
  • Objective: Promote and finance small-scale climate (mitigation, adaptation) and/or biodiversity projects
  • IKI funding: 670,000 euros
  • Project start: 01/12/2021
  • Project end: 30/11/2024
  • Website: https://fnec-benin.org

With support from Germany’s International Climate Initiative, Benin’s National Fund for Environment and Climate (FNEC) established an initiative to finance climate and biodiversity action projects led by national civil society organisations. Through a call for proposals, FNEC identified five NGOs that each received up to 90,000 euros in funding and technical support. These local organisations implemented projects aimed at adapting agricultural practices to climate change and protecting biodiversity. Actions focused on restoring woodlands and pastures, empowering communities, and transforming livelihoods through sustainable sources of income such as fish farming and beekeeping. As a result, around 3,000 people directly benefited from the NGOs’ activities across the country, almost 3,000 hectares of land were restored, and about 20,000 tons of CO2 emissions were saved. FNEC also gained valuable experience and strengthened its capacity to implement funding programmes. For institutions like FNEC in Benin, cooperation with IKI Small Grants serves as a stepping stone to receiving funds from larger programmes. By early 2025, FNEC had secured $16 million from UN funding lines to counter the effects of climate change.

GALLERY

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A young woman from Benin with a headscarf is standing in front of a concrete fish pond and holding a fish in her hands looking into the camera.
Safourath Seïdou, a young farmer from Bourandou, is engaged in fish farming with support from the IKI Small Grants funding through the FNEC. © FNEC
2/11
Local villagers in Benin stand in front of a concrete fish pond, inspecting the water and fish with a net.
With support from Germany’s International Climate Initiative, local NGO Association Féminine pour une Jeunesse Épanouie (AFEJE) transform livelihoods through fish farming. © FNEC
3/11
Women from an agricultural cooperative in Benin, dressed in colorful dresses and headscarves, stand in front of an agricultural shredding machine.
The projects funded by IKI Small Grants through the FNEC focused on improving the role of women in local communities. © FNEC
4/11
Eight women in Benin are standing in colorful traditional dresses and headscarfs in front of two agricultural shredding machines.
Two groups of women palm oil processors were formed within the funded project by Organisation pour le Développement Durable et la Biodiversité (ODDB). © FNEC
5/11
Six beekeepers wearing protective suits and equipped with beekeeping equipment inspect a hive in a local forest in Benin.
The funded local NGO Association Féminine pour une Jeunesse Épanouie (AFEJE) also promoted beekeeping as an income-generating activity. © FNEC
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A local villager in Benin stands in a green field, inspecting the crops.
One of the funded NGOs called Organisation pour le Développement des Initiatives à la Base (ODIB) implements a land restoration project in the Houéyogbé commune to strengthen food security resilience. © FNEC
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Three workers are standing in a field, filling a soy harvesting machine with soy plants.
Soybeans are being harvested as part of a food security project by the local organisation Organisation pour le Développement des Initiatives à la Base (ODIB). © FNEC
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An aerial picture shows a community fodder and watering site for livestock, featuring a solar panel and two water tank towers, set in a green landscape in Benin.
In the commune of Djidja, funded local NGO Equilibre d’Afrique created a community fodder and watering site for livestock. © FNEC
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Members of a local community in Benin are visiting a field with green vegetation to receive training in sustainable land management.
Through the project funded by IKI Small Grants, local communities are trained in sustainable land management. © FNEC
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Around 20 local community members in traditional colorful dresses stand in a circle in a village in Benin, receiving training on using compost to promote market gardening production.
Through funding from IKI Small Grants, the NGO Benin Culture Développement Amitié (BCDA) organised training on the use of compost promoting market gardening production. © FNEC
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An aerial picture shows a forest in Benin with a variety of trees which is surrounded by plane lands.
A project implemented by NGO Organisation pour le Développement Durable et la Biodiversité (ODDB) aims to restore and sustainably conserve the biodiversity of the Kpékonzoun forest in the commune of Adjohoun. © FNEC

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

IKI Small Grants supports FNEC to develop and strengthen its capacities as Financing Institution in the context of climate and biodiversity protection. This includes:

    • Strengthening of FNEC’s capacities regarding the requirements of the international climate and biodiversity funds in terms of project development for the mobilisation of financing; 
    • Strengthen the capacities of FNEC’s Committee of Experts for Environmental, Social and Gender Monitoring (CESESAG) on GCF’s environmental and social standards; 
    • Carry out an organizational audit of FNEC, together with an action plan to remedy the gaps identified. 
    • Upgrade platforms and databases for the submission and management of projects 
    • Training of FNEC’s executives on the monitoring-evaluation mechanism for climate change adaptation and mitigation projects 
  • Support the organization through exchange visits with other organisations already accredited to the GCF and the AF for knowledge sharing on projects already implemented

Dr. Appolinaire Gnanvi is the Director General of the Fonds National pour l’Environnement et le Climat, a Beninese funding organisation that successfully increased its funding budget through international cooperation. © FNEC

 

Project video

Dr. Appolinaire Gnanvi from Benin’s National Fund for Environment and Climate (FNEC) explains the impact of working together with Germany’s IKI Small Grants programme for local climate and biodiversity action.

Links

International Climate Initiative: How fish save sacred forests | Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI)

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

IPFG

The National Fund for Environment and Climate (Fonds National pour l’Environnement et le Climat, FNEC) is a financial instrument under the supervision of the Ministry of Living Environment and Sustainable Development in Benin. The organisation was founded in 2003 and responds to a need to support and finance initiatives related to environmental protection and climate change. The financing mechanism for programs and projects aims at the protection and rational management of the environment, the fight against the harmful effects of climate change and the promotion of a sustainable development in Benin.  

SELECTED PROJECTS

Community feeding and watering site for livestock in the commune of Djidja 
Support area: Adapting to the impacts of climate change
Organisation: Equilibre d’Afrique 
Description:

Overexploitation of pasture and water resources by transhumant herders lead to degradation of natural resources and conflicts of use with farmers in the project region. The project strengthens sustainable pasture management, fodder production by arable farmers, establishment of  hedges and provision of drinking troughs and fodder plots for model farmers.

Restoration and sustainable conservation of the Kpékonzoun sacred forest in the commune of Adjohoun 
Support area: Conserving biological diversity
Organisation: Organisation pour le Développement Durable et la Biodiversité (ODDB)
Description:

The Kpékonzoun sacred forest is one of the last forest reserves in the commune of Adjohoun. It is threatened by trade of wood and uncontrolled hunting. The project contributes to the sustainable management of the forest through the sustainable valorization of its biological resources and strengthening the resilience of local communities. 

Preservation of the Perma River Headwaters in Kamborifa 
Support area: Adapting to the impacts of climate change
Organisation: Benin Culture Développement Amitié (BCDA)
Description:

The headwaters of the Perma River are degrading due to increasing pressure of use. The project promotes the sustainable management of water resources through infrastructure (boreholes, drinking troughs for animals, collective laundry areas with water collection pits), the spread of market gardening production and the restoration of vegetation (gallery forests and river banks) with native species. 

Strengthening the resilience of food security in response to climate change in the Commune of Houéyogbé 
Support area: Adapting to the impacts of climate change
Organisation: Organisation pour le Développement des Initiatives à la Base (ODIB)
Description:

Due to changes in precipitation, droughts and floods are occurring more frequently in the community of Houéyogbé. In order to increase the resilience of the population to these climate fluctuations, adapted agricultural practices are being promoted. In addition, the processing of agricultural products and market access are strengthened through agricultural business clusters. 

Preservation and valorization of the ecosystems of the Bourandou community forest and the Sinatabe sacred forest
Support area: Conserving natural carbon sinks / forestry
Organisation: Association Féminine pour une Jeunesse Epanouie (AFEJE)
Description:

The degradation of forest areas is counteracted by restoring vegetation and establishing sustainable land use methods. In the surrounding area, local communities are trained in sustainable land management and alternative income opportunities are created (bee-keeping, sustainable fisheries, small animals).