Maritime Trade and Biological Invasions Management: A Seaport Platform of Environmental Surveillance in Cotonou, Benin, as a Pilot Multi-Stakeholder Initiative

Abstract

The Seaport Platform of Environmental Surveillance (PPSE, or Plateforme Portuaire de Surveillance Environnementale in French) was officially inaugurated in Cotonou Seaport (CS), Benin, by the end of 2021. To our knowledge, this platform is the first laboratory dedicated to the monitoring and management of invasive species to be built inside the walls of an African seaport. Its creation has benefitted from a combination of favorable factors, and its existence has resulted from a long-term, multi-stakeholder and still ongoing process that we here describe and analyze. We believe that the PPSE is an innovative science-guided operational initiative that may be useful to replicate in other settings throughout the world.