Wildlife management and regulation of the bushmeat trade are not yet explicitly included in the management plans for Benin's classified forests. Consequently, understanding the interactions between bushmeat exploitation, game population dynamics and plant species recruitment is a crucial step in establishing a sustainable strategy for access to natural resources in Benin. Even if bushmeat consumption is not a new phenomenon, it has increased considerably and globalised in recent years in Benin and deserves to be considered as one of the main threats to the loss of biological diversity. We wish, through our research group formalised in a Young Team associated with IRD (the JEAI "RADAR-BE"), to collect sufficient data to generate information on the bushmeat sector in the form of technical sheets that can support policies and strategies to keep the use and trade of bushmeat below the thresholds of sustainability. Our objective is also to raise the awareness of the local population on the importance of the conservation of the hunted species. In any case, predicting the long-term impacts of hunting on the forest habitat remains a major challenge requiring the establishment of a multidisciplinary team using modern and integrated approaches. Our team is composed of six national researchers and a French collaborator, with diversified and complementary skills in relation to the objectives set. The long working experience between the members is a guarantee of success for the group's smooth functioning, and the support of the JEAI will enable the sustainable setting up of a multidisciplinary research group in Benin to analyse the bushmeat issue with regard to its sustainability in terms of wildlife and forest conservation in Dahomey Gap, an integral part of the Guinean Forests hotspot.