The national management of wildlife reserves Centre (CENAGREF) in
Cotonou signed on Thursday, March 24, 2016, a partnership agreement
with the Foundation of West African Savannahs (WASF). The agreement,
signed between officials of the two organizations, in the presence of
the Minister of the Environment, marks the start of the Benin
Foundation activities. It aims to finance the conservation of wildlife
reserves of Niger, Benin, and Burkina Faso—the whole complex formed by
parks W, the Pendjari, and Arly.
But initially the intervention of the WASF will make available to the
CENAGREF a grant of 164 million CFA francs to repair the tracks,
housing, and administrative buildings of Pendjari National Park. “Both
partners will commit to work closely together to achieve their common
mission of ecosystem conservation through efficient management of the
reserves of fauna,” said Aline Odjè, the Board Chair of the WASF.
“The start of the WASF activities appears beneficial for Benin and
beyond for the countries that share the famous W-Arly-Pendjari complex
(WAP), of exceptional importance in terms of biodiversity,” noted the
Environment Minister, Théophile Worou.
Note the participation in the signing ceremony of the partnership
agreement of a delegation from the German Embassy. German cooperation
is part of a donor foundation born in 2012 and headquartered in Benin
since 2014.