In Benin, Voodoo's birthplace, believers bemoan steady shrinkage of forests they revere as sacred

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “When brought roads to our region and we had to stop everything in the sacred forest, people started getting sick and having all kinds of problems,” said Benoit Sonou, a Voodoo priest who witnessed the destruction of his community’s forest as a young man. During an October visit to several sacred forests in southern Benin, The Associated Press heard what sounded like intense swirling wind emanating from two forests after Voodoo priests called to the spirits. “When we lose spaces demarcated for spiritual practices, these are spaces where people come together and try to understand how they’re going to respond to new challenges and new difficulties.” Standing in front of a sacred tree, priest Gilbert Kakpo said women with childbirth troubles go there for help. We often ignore the sacred forests because we don’t want them to prevent us from developing the country,” said Florent Couao-Zotti, the technical adviser for the ministry of culture.