Benin Environment - 2024

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

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.)

Urbanization

urban population: 50.1% of total population (2023)

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

Revenue from forest resources

2.24% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 31.51 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 6.48 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 5.8 megatons (2020 est.)

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.)

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Niger (2,261,741 sq km), Volta (410,991 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 150 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 30 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 60 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

26.39 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)