Benin Environment - 2021

Environment - current issues

inadequate supplies of potable water; water pollution; poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation; desertification (the spread of the desert into agricultural lands in the north is accelerated by regular droughts)

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 33.11 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 6.48 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 5.8 megatons (2020 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 145 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 30 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 59 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

26.39 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Climate

tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north

Land use

agricultural land: 31.3% (2018 est.)

arable land: 22.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 3.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 4.9% (2018 est.)

forest: 40% (2018 est.)

other: 28.7% (2018 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 2.24% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 49% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 3.74% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 685,936 tons (1993 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 171,484 tons (2005 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 25% (2005 est.)