Country Forest Notes are a centerpiece of the World Bank Group’s Forest Action Plan and Climate Change Action Plan. They provide a thorough assessment of the current status of forests, the forestry sector, and the investment needs to sustainably manage this valuable renewable natural resource. The Note for Benin aims to identify the key challenges and opportunities that exist for sustainable forestry and forest-smart interventions and the ways to address them. This note covers the following topics

- Characteristics of forests and the forestry sector in Benin
- Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation
- Opportunities for economic growth through forest-smart interventions
- Proposed approach in the country

Relevant messages include:
- Fuelwood and charcoal production contribute 2.4 percent to the national economy and mainly informally
- The wood energy value chains estimate employing 200,000 people, with annual sales reaching nearly CFAF 7 billion (US$12 million) per year
- The charcoal value chain is currently not sustainable with low yields of processing technology
- Fuelwood and charcoal for cooking represented the highest share (46.2 percent) of the country’s energy balance
- Promoting the expansion of fuelwood plantations, training of charcoal producers in improved carbonization techniques, introducing higher performance furnaces and improved cookstoves proposed as short-term solutions