The Botanic Garden of Papatia is located in Papatia, Sina-Issire, Northern Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

. Founded in 2001, it was the first garden created in Northern Benin. It was created by the local Fula people

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

, a traditionally semi-nomadic ethnicity, support was provided by an NGO, the Goethe University Frankfurt and the National University of Benin

National University of Benin

The National University of Benin is the principal university in the country of Benin. The university was founded in 1970 as the Université du Dahomey. In 1975 the name was changed to Université Nationale du Bénin. Its name is abbreviated UNB....

. The 12 hectares (29.7 acre) garden has a totally protected core zone of approximately 5 hectares (12.4 acre). It is situated in a savanna

Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...

, containing over 100 woody plants and hundreds of herbaceous species. The facility includes a tree nursery, various ecological sites, a traditional medicine pharmacy, beekeeping installations, and an information centre. Gnanando Seydou is the Director.

An education project was initiated in 2006. Subsequent to the development of this pilot garden, the area's first protected zone, twenty protected lands were created by Development Network of Community Nature Reserves (Réseau de Développement de Réserves naturelles Communautaires; REDERC), an organization of the village community; REDERC received the Equator Prize 2010.