The Niger River Basin : A Vision for Sustainable Management
The Niger River Basin Authority (NBA) brings together nine countries to promote integrated water resources management across political borders. The nine - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria have embraced a shared vision to build institutional capacity, political agreement, and public support for cooperation. The countries agree that sustainable management and development of the basin's water resources are necessary to meet natural and man-made threats to their shared resources, and that progress can be achieved by integrating technical data on the hydrology and geography of the river system with judicious political and economic policy. The Niger river basin, home to 100 million people, is a vital and complex asset of West and Central Africa. The continent's third-longest river, the Niger is more than just a source of water. For the people of the nine countries it is a source of identity, a route for migration and commerce, a source of conflict, and now a catalyst for cooperation. Niger, with about 23 percent of the Basin within its borders, depends on river navigation (through Nigeria) to reach the sea. Nigeria, a major food grower on rain-fed and irrigated land, is the final downstream country. Its borders enclose some 80 percent of the Basin's population and about 28 percent of its territory.
| Summary: | The Niger River Basin Authority (NBA)
brings together nine countries to promote integrated water
resources management across political borders. The nine -
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire,
Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria have embraced a shared
vision to build institutional capacity, political agreement,
and public support for cooperation. The countries agree that
sustainable management and development of the basin's
water resources are necessary to meet natural and man-made
threats to their shared resources, and that progress can be
achieved by integrating technical data on the hydrology and
geography of the river system with judicious political and
economic policy. The Niger river basin, home to 100 million
people, is a vital and complex asset of West and Central
Africa. The continent's third-longest river, the Niger
is more than just a source of water. For the people of the
nine countries it is a source of identity, a route for
migration and commerce, a source of conflict, and now a
catalyst for cooperation. Niger, with about 23 percent of
the Basin within its borders, depends on river navigation
(through Nigeria) to reach the sea. Nigeria, a major food
grower on rain-fed and irrigated land, is the final
downstream country. Its borders enclose some 80 percent of
the Basin's population and about 28 percent of its territory. |
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