Wetlands in the test of decentralization

With the application of Law N°97-029 of January 15 1999 on the Organization of Communes in the Republic of Benin through the municipal and communal elections of 2002 the management of natural resources including wetlands at the local level is now the responsibility of the Communes. However they receive legal support from central and decentralized state structures. For many reasons including the lack of spatial management tools wetlands are subject to hazardous management. This study aims to contribute to a sustainable management. The results reveal that 42% 37% and 21% are the proportions of the sample that exploit respectively the floodplain the river and the lowlands; for agriculture fish farming river sand exploitation market gardening fishing and gravel exploitation with respective percentages of 29 24 24 12 6 and 6%. The Potential-Effective-Efficient approach (Mérot 2000) and the diagnostic analysis of the forms of use of these wetland ecosystems express the extent of their degradation with the corollary of enormous environmental public health and development problems.