How a spiritual practice is preserving Benin’s mangroves

In the West African nation of Benin, Vodun, an ancient spiritual religion rooted in a deep connection between humans and nature, has become a primary tool for protecting the country’s disappearing mangroves.

By invoking the authority of the Zangbéto deity, local communities and conservationists create spiritual sanctuaries that forbid the destruction of mangroves under threat of divine punishment, reports Mongabay Africa’s Jahëna Louisin.

Mangroves are vital carbon sinks, capable of capturing up to four times as much carbon as terrestrial forests. Benin’s mangroves are under extreme pressure from logging, salt production, intensive agriculture and urbanization. Between 1995 and 2015, mangrove cover in the country decreased by 29%, according to a study published in 2025.

To combat this loss, the NGO Eco-Bénin partners with Vodun dignitaries to designate specific areas as sacred. In the last decade, this collaboration has preserved about 500 hectares (more than 1,235 acres) of mangroves. The process involves seeking permission from the spirits through a Fâ priest, a mediator who uses a traditional spiritual language to communicate with the divine.

In the video, Isidore Jinou, a 57-year-old advertising director and the son of a fisherman, emphasizes the importance of this spiritual oversight for the Mono River region in the southwestern corner of Benin. This region is home to Bouche du Roy, an estuary and one of the richest mangrove ecosystems on the Beninese coastline.

“All our resources, all our wealth comes from the water,” Jinou, who was initiated into the Vodun religion 14 years ago, tells Mongabay. “There is a certain communion between mangroves and us humans. So it [the mangrove] has a soul. We consider it a living being that we must not destroy or mistreat.”

The community’s belief in the Zangbéto, a respected deity that forbids woodcutting, enforces spiritual regulation. In villages such as Dado, spiritual guardians oversee the respecting of these traditions. During ceremonies, a miniature Zangbéto is placed on a tree to signify a “pact” between spirits and the community, effectively banning fishing or woodcutting in the area.

The Beninese government, which officially recognized Vodun as a national religion in 1996, now incorporates these traditional systems into its environmental strategy.

Adjakou Akoutan Adjinda, Benin’s director general of the government agency for water, forests, and hunting, says in the video that the state actively supports these traditional conservation frameworks. “I think the two are complementary,” Adjinda says. “The local authority, which embodies the public force, is involved. The communities, through their chiefdoms and their deities, are involved. This will allow us to take all aspects into account and hope for better results for the conservation of mangroves in Benin.”

Watch the video by Jahëna Louisin, Cynthia Hégron, Leslie Cauquais, Florian Roche and Juliette Chapalain here.

Banner image: Mongabay journalist Jahëna Louisin documents the role of Vodun traditions in conserving mangroves in southern Benin. Image courtesy of Cynthia Hégron.