Forests are one of the most important natural resources, providing a renewable supply of ecosystem goods and services we need for a more sustainable future. They regulate our climate, purify the air we breathe, and filter the water we drink. They provide sources of food, water, income, and protection against environmental disasters, and are home to more than two-thirds of the world's flora and fauna. 

In Benin, indigenous peoples and local communities, especially women, are heavily dependent on forests. They master the use of medicinal plants to treat their family members and sell them. Deforestation is causing these plants to disappear, which has direct consequences on the health of children and populations and on women's income. Similarly, women's collection of forest products, such as fruits, blackberries, mushrooms, honey, incense, etc., is reduced due to the rapid and large-scale decline in vegetation cover, and approximately 75,000 hectares of forests and savannahs are lost each year, resulting in the conversion of forests and savannahs to extensive agriculture, and leading to the degradation of agricultural land. 

However, natural resources are important and indispensable for the survival of life on Earth. To heal, humans need leaves, tree bark, and roots; to feed themselves, humans need fertile land to develop agricultural activity; and to build, humans need wood. This is why we are concerned about the sustainable management of forests and land, so that current generations derive the maximum sustainable benefits while maintaining their capacity to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations. 

AMAF-BENIN works for community forest governance and management alongside indigenous peoples and local communities. Community forest management is particularly important at a time when the climate, biodiversity, and even community livelihoods are in crisis. The concept of Community Forest Management (CFM) assumes that riparian communities have control over their territories and resources through horizontal decision-making systems, which involve operating with transparency and accountability to the rest of the community. CFM is not limited to forests; it is applied to other ecosystems (land, lake, river, mangrove, mountain, etc.). It is holistic because it involves the appropriate and well-planned use of forest resources, land, ecosystems, biodiversity, etc. and is not simply a matter of their political administration, because it requires appropriate technologies, traditional knowledge, planning, and community practices to ensure the resources are used methodically and efficiently. The 'management' element of GCF means that indigenous peoples and local communities must ensure the governance of their territories. 

By supporting indigenous peoples and local communities in community forest management, we contribute to strengthening their collective rights and empowering them; we prevent deforestation and the degradation of forests and ecosystems; we prevent deforestation and the deterioration of people's living conditions; we contribute to climate stabilization, community organization, sustainable land management and the protection of common goods, thus contributing to social, climate, economic and gender justice. Our support integrates agroforestry, agroecology, leadership strengthening, etc. and ensures food and nutritional sovereignty and security, sustainable local economies and the construction of more just, equitable and sustainable societies.

We promote and support actions to restore degraded lands to ensure local communities have sustainable access to fertile land and sustainable livelihoods. Our approach is to guide forest communities towards sustainable forest use in combination with profitable and sustainable agroforestry and agroecology, in order to restore the local economy and empower vulnerable communities.