Benin is a small French-speaking country in West Africa located in the tropical zone between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer.
Most cities in Benin are currently facing the problems of air pollution and global warming. At the base of this situation we speak of the lack of adequate green spaces especially in Cotonou, the capital of the country.
Successive governments over the years in Benin have clearly not made this issue a priority. This means that the identification of green spaces remains a difficult exercise in the Beninese metropolis.
The creation of a layer of urban biodiversity constitutes a possible solution which must allow the well-being of the populations.
To date, the observation is that the few green spaces available to the city of Cotonou, if they do not contain stalls installed anarchically by traders, they become dumps. The lawns are for the most part trampled, the flowers poorly maintained, the trees, sometimes destroyed. And yet, these types of ecosystems are vitally important in the face of climate change.
For Joséa Dossou Bodjrènou, director of Tropical Nature Ong, the city of Cotonou does not have green spaces worthy of the name. “We cannot have installations of barely 300, 200 or 150 m2 and without trees and talk about green spaces. If you have seen green spaces elsewhere, or even in some African countries, you will understand that we do not have any in Cotonou, ”he said.
As we know, green spaces very often designate any vegetated amenity space, often made up of grass, meadow, trees and shrubs, flowers, etc.
“We unfortunately see today in the cities, in particular in Cotonou, that the green spaces are only ornamental spaces of crossroads of the city center with the installation of a low vegetation. The fundamentals for talking about green space go beyond ornament ”, deplores Florent Satognon Houessou, a specialist in environmental geoscience who has demonstrated the important role that trees must play in the development of green spaces.
For him, green space exists naturally. It behaves by an ornamental vegetal formation grassed, raised, planted with flowers and trees or ornamental shrubs. He recalls that at the scale of a city, green spaces can refer to all spaces such as urban parks, public gardens, squares, of a certain size, accessible on foot and by bicycle but not by vehicles motorized, and presenting no danger to users. Florent Satognon Houessou, said that green spaces significantly contribute to improving environmental conditions in cities.
It should also be remembered that the establishment of green spaces makes it possible to fight against desertification, to create a micro climate capable of triggering rains. Regarding flooding, Houessou said that retaining 40% of rainwater is the other big advantage of green roofs that prevent the collapse of urban drainage systems.
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