Wetlands Conservation and Utilization for Flood Management: A Study of Local Practices in Greater-Nokoué, Benin, West Africa

In response to flood risks, nature-based solutions are increasingly recommended as resilience strategies. Wetlands are proposed as natural levers given their regulatory properties. This represents another way of promoting wetlands and, consequently, a call for their conservation. However, for nature-based solutions to be implemented effectively, residents’ perceptions and practices must be taken into account. To this end, in the flood-prone Greater-Nokoué region, this study highlighted residents’ perceptions and practices on the issue. Questionnaire surveys were conducted among 430 wetland residents with diverse socio-demographic profiles, who were either new or long-term residents living near wetlands (swamp formations and water bodies). The main results show that nearly half of the residents recognise the usefulness of wetlands in flood management. Both positive and negative perceptions are influenced by socio-demographic factors (gender, age, level of education) and residential factors (duration of residence near wetlands). Despite this fairly positive perception, wetlands are underused in flood management. Similarly, nature-based solutions are not exploited in alternative flood management approaches.