MITAD- Mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Atacora.
Spreading awareness about the importance of combating climate change and helping to develop better capacities to adapt to climate change risks.
The context
Benin ranks 166th on the Human Development Index scale. The northern regions in particular, including Atacora, are the poorest. Here, investment in agriculture, a sector from which 80 percent of the region’s population lives, is largely insufficient compared to needs. Many people live under the constant threat of food insecurity and lack the resources to be able to cultivate large areas. They invest what little savings they have in synthetic fertilizers that allow them to have better crop yields in the short term. However, as time passes, these same soils become less and less fertile.
In addition to this, in Atacora, particularly in the Boukombé district, the risk of flooding is very high, as is the risk of landslides and soil erosion, and there is still little knowledge of climate change mitigation tools and the need for ecological transition.
Goals
The overall objective of the project is to foster greater awareness in the Atacora region of Benin regarding the importance of combating climate change and that of helping to develop better capacities to adapt to the risks associated with this phenomenon.
The activities
The activities aim to promote community resilience through the development of productive activities that adopt the agroecological approach by using local climate-resilient and low-impact crop varieties, supplemented with both fruit and forest tree planting. They also aim to mitigate the effects of climate change through environmental protection awareness, tree planting and environmental education targeting young students.
Promoting agroecology
Technical and material support, through seed endowments, agricultural tools and the provision of specific trainings, to local producers and producers. Four local varieties of plants will be cultivated: yellow corn, chili pepper, voandzou and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), which are resistant to climate change, particularly drought, contribute to soil regeneration and do not require synthetic fertilizers, the main cause of soil degradation and biodiversity. Through growing, consuming, and selling these crops, producers will be able to be more resilient to climate change and ensure healthy and nutritious food for the family.
Development of agroforestry systems
Each producer involved in the project will receive, in addition to seeds and agricultural tools, 5 fruit tree seedlings and 5 forest tree seedlings. The fruit trees will be planted near the beneficiaries’ homes to ensure diet diversification, while the forest trees will be planted in the production plots to create integrated agroforestry systems.
Environmental education in schools
Within the two selected schools an environmental education course will be implemented for 50 students. It will explain the main consequences of climate change and the behaviors and choices that cause it, both globally but also specifically in Atacora and in the villages where each lives. How and what to engage in to adapt and to reduce the behaviors that are the cause of the changes themselves will also be addressed. At the end of the training, an environmental education manual with the contents of the training they received will be distributed both to the students themselves and to the director and teachers of the schools involved so they can offer it to others.
Planting in schools
Hands-on activity of planting selected local plants with the aim of making school spaces more sustainable and ensuring that students can make a small but concrete contribution to the global fight against climate change. 100 fruit trees will be planted in each of the two identified schools, so that each of the pupils is responsible for 4 trees. The plants will be protected by the ad hoc wooden devices made by local artisans. Each beneficiary school will also receive a dozen watering cans to make sure that watering the seedlings can involve more students at the same time.