Appolinaire OUSSOU LIO

Appolinaire OUSSOU LIO is a founding member of the African Earth Jurisprudence Collective and President of GRABE-BENIN. Appolinaire founded GRABE with a broad focus on reviving the Voudon tradition of the region and connecting young people with Nature, and in 2012 he helped to secure the first Sacred Forests Law in Africa. From 2014-2017 Appolinaire trained to become an Earth Jurisprudence practitioner with The Gaia Foundation, during which time he began to work directly with custodians of sacred natural sites and to reconnect with his own community, going back to roots. He has since been working with communities to gain legal recognition of sacred forests in Benin, West Africa and on reviving traditional seed diversity and medicines.