Potential collaborations between GMES and Africa and other initiatives: A look at the Niger Basin Authority

The Niger Basin Authority participated in the Abidjan workshop on Land Degradation, co-organized by G&A and OSS at the beginning of October 2022. An opportunity to present this transboundary initiative which could benefit from G&A projects implemented in Central Africa by CICOS, or in West Africa by CSE

Background 

The Niger River basin, shared by nine African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad), vast of 1.5 million km2, is a space of paradoxes: it is marked by severe environmental degradation (erosion, deforestation, silting up of waterways, pollution, etc.) resulting from the climatic deterioration that has been raging since the 1970s, and from the mining use of natural resources. It is populated by a poor population, still very rural, estimated today at nearly 160 million inhabitants.

The mission of the Niger Basin Authority is to promote cooperation between member countries and ensure integrated development of the Niger Basin in the areas of: hydraulics, energy, agriculture, transport, communications, industry, etc.

This basin, like other basins in the world, is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which sometimes manifests itself in phenomena that are difficult to assess and control: severe droughts, floods, water and land pollution, etc. This vulnerability unfortunately slows down the development momentum of our various States. The challenges of sustainable development of our various States impose a better management of the resources of the basin. The monitoring of natural resources is one of the KEY ACTIVITIES of the NBA, its sustainability is a major concern for the Executive Secretariat of the NBA and its Member States with regard to the evolution of the major issues of socio-economic development and environmental. Faced with these challenges of sustainable development, the NBA, through its OBSERVATORY, is setting up modeling tools with a view to developing products useful for the proper planning of the development of the basin and the rational management of the natural resources of the basin.

 

Potential Collaborations

The GMES, and Africa (G&A), program is a joint European Union-African Union initiative, under the coordination of the African Union Commission through the Department of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation (ESTI), and which aims to promote the development of capacities and resources institutional, human and technical resources for access to the operation of basic services on Earth Observation as an operational basis for sustainable development in Africa. The program is an important vector for the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy as well as Space Strategies and Policies in Africa, aligned with Aspiration 7 of the African Union Agenda 2063.

The overall objective is to “Promote sustainable management of natural resources by improving the decision-making process by making available additional relevant information”. This by improving access and relevant use of Earth Observation data in regional institutions in charge of natural resource management in Africa.

A collaboration is envisaged between G&A and the NBA to consolidate and improve the conventional observation systems which are currently not very operational on the continent, using satellite data (water levels, precipitation, evapotranspiration, droughts, flows, etc. in order to issue early warnings and meet the needs of the main users of the water resource (navigation, irrigation, meteorology, hydrology, hydroelectricity production and drinking water, agro-pastoral services, forest management and protected areas, etc.), on the one hand, and to contribute to decision-making in the implementation of policies for planning uses and development opportunities relating to water and natural resources by promoting access to and relevant use of Earth Observation data, on the other hand.

This collaboration between the G&A and the Niger Basin Authority would make possible reconcile scientific and technical visions and user needs by pooling efforts to meet development challenges and promote the export of innovative technologies and the know-how in the field of:

• Taking into account the needs of users, in particular Transboundary Basin Organizations (TBOs) essential for the development of an operational program and a portfolio of climate services adapted for the use of earth observation data.
• Development of a value chain between space actors, researchers/Partners and operational services/beneficiaries and cross-border basins.

Links

• Institutional website, http://www.abn.ne   
• Environmental monitoring, http://veille-environnementale.abn.ne 
• Environmental and socio-economic information system (IES), http://sie.abn.ne/sie 
• Hydrological Information System, http://nigerhycos.abn.ne/
• SATH-NBA/MSG website, http://sath.abn.ne
• ftp SATH-ABN/MSG, ftp://sath.abn.ne
• Spatial Altimetry /Database and Forecast, https://hydrosatniger.pigeosolutions.fr/
• Spatial Altimetry /Forecasting model, https://mgb-hyfaa.pigeo.fr/

The G&A OSS regional workshop on Land Degradation, https://gmes4africa.blogspot.com/2022/09/gmes-et-la-degradation-des-terres-en-afrique.html

Contacts

Mr. Tanimoun BACHIR ALKALI  | Hydrologist Expert, SATH-NBA Project Coordinator |

Email: bat_alkalao[at]yahoo.com/ bachir.tanimoun[at]bassin-niger.org  | Web: www.abn.ne/www.sath.abn.ne

Niger Basin Authority | Executive Secretariat | P.O. Box: 729, NIAMEY (Niger) | Tel. : +227 20 31 50 36/37 | E-mail : secretariat.executif[at]bassin-niger.org