The land tenure and environmental policies nexus: policy integration and spatial planning in Benin

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the dynamics of integration between land tenure and environmental policies in Benin. This country is characterised by growing vulnerability to the effects of climate change and is marked by a long history of extraversion and dependence on international aid. This article contributes to the theoretical debate on the integration and coordination of environmental and climate policies by showing that cross-cutting policy objectives can hardly be achieved by State sectoral institutions alone, which are largely dependent on international development aid. It successively analyses the different agendas for rural and urban land issues, the incomplete institutionalisation of a Ministry of the Environment, and finally the growing development, supported by international aid, of a more targeted approach to spatial planning, which is more inclusive of land and environmental issues, but which remains focused on urban areas. The article concludes with a discussion of the structural difficulties encountered by international donors and the Beninese government in reaching agreement on cross-cutting issues, and the sectoral autonomies that contribute to the dynamics of inertia and limit the integration of these issues into bureaucratic routines.