Managing Transboundary Risks in the Iullemeden Aquifer System - Abdel Kader Dodo

Link to [Presentation]

The GEF process using Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis in shared Aquifer by Mali, Niger and Nigeria (West Africa zone) is applied for the first time on transboundary groundwater in the african continent regarding to the five GEF-IW domains: 1) marine, 2) river, 3) lake, 4) wetland, and 5) aquifer.

Three major risks were identified by the three countries: 1) reduction of water resource availability, 2) water quality degradation, 3) impacts of climatic change / climatic variability.

In addition, several common tools were developed with close and active participation of country representatives as: digital topographical and geological maps, database, GIS, Model by using data and information (from more than 17000 water points provided by the three countries).

Although several bilateral, multilateral Commissions and Authorities (Niger River Authority, Liptako-Gourma Authority for integrated development, Mali-Niger commission, Niger-Nigeria mixed commission), it is clear to the countries that no specific bilateral or multilateral agreement has been concluded with regard to the Iullemeden Aquifer System. According to this project, the first agreement to manage equitably (between the three countries) the shared groundwater resources management of Iullemeden Aquifer System is developed.

Blog Reporter: Djamel Latrech