Study of specific plant diversity in forest reserves and riparian areas in Benin

Benin government is committed to the overall strategy for the sacred forests and protected areas conservation through their integration into the national system of protected areas. This is due to the value of biodiversity and the considerable ethno-cultural and religious importance of the forests and protected areas. The project titled “Project for the Integration of Sacred Forests into the System of Protected Areas of Benin (PIFSAP)” was initiated to preserve the biodiversity of the country by protecting and sustainably managing forest resources, biological and cultural heritage of local populations. Thus, all the sacred forests of Benin have been inventoried. The data were collected in 2013 and provided precise information on the sacred forests of Benin. The Center for Forestry Studies, Research and Training (CERF), a social, cultural and scientific institution, has made available the dataset on the species collected during PIFSAP project for publication on GBIF website. After cleaning and removing duplicates, this first dataset of 8,488 georeferenced plant species occurrences was published on GBIF website by GBIF Benin team. The most represented plant families within the dataset are Combretaceae, Sapotaceae and Fabaceae. This dataset will be used by scientists all over the world in various fields and therefore the results generated will inform decisions on biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in Benin and across Africa.