Facts and figures

At 4,200 km the Niger River is the third longest river in Africa (after the Nile and Congo). Its unusual ‘boomerang’ shape was probably produced by two ancient rivers joining together. The Niger Basin, which covers 2.2 million km2 spread over nine countries and includes a human population of more than 100 million, embraces different climatic zones, topographies and rainfall patterns, which lead to a complex and variable flow pattern for the river.

In the floodplains and delta wetlands along the river, a specialized flora has evolved that is adapted to extreme fluctuations in water levels. The river basin also supports a wide variety of fascinating animals. Black-crowned cranes rely on floodplain wetland habitat throughout the basin. In addition, the braided wetlands that form Niger’s “Inner Delta” in Mali support hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.

The Niger River system also sustains remarkable biological communities. The river has 36 families and nearly 250 species of freshwater fish, of which 20 are found nowhere else on Earth. Eleven of the 18 families of freshwater fish that are endemic to Africa are represented in the Niger River. Manatees can still be found in several pockets of suitable habitat that remains along the river and hippopotami and crocodiles are still present. The river’s true delta in Nigeria contains West Africa’s largest mangrove forest.

A combination of human population growth, unsustainable resource use and development, and desertification are threatening the Niger River’s ability to supply crucially needed natural resources to the people of West Africa. River flows in the basin are decreasing at the same time that fishing pressure is increasing, leading to drastic declines in the productivity of the Niger’s fisheries. The effects of deforestation and farming of fragile soils is leading to sedimentation of river channels.

Competition over scarce water resources or transboundary areas has been a source of tension between the basin countries. Drought and reduced water availability have forced rural communities, such as farmers and cattle herders, to migrate south to more humid conditions increasing pressure on the remaining floodplains and wetlands. With this migration, traditional resources management have given way to survival needs that are ecologically unsustainable and lead to declining biodiversity and productivity of natural habitats.

A circular relationship between poverty and environmental degradation characterizes the region. Regional poverty is a severe limiting factor and compromises the ability of the countries to invest in costly yet necessary state of the environment monitoring. Human pressures on the resource base include deforestation, bush burning, and unsustainable agricultural practices. This combination of increased human pressure and drought then exacerbates desertification and the cycle continues.

Economic growth is heavily dependent on the performance of two primary sectors – agriculture that contributes 40 percent of GDP in the basin, whereas mining contributes over 10 percent. In many parts of the basin, inland navigation provides essential transport for people and goods. The basin’s rural economy depends heavily upon natural resources. However, the environment is under severe stress, threatening rural livelihoods and increasing the rural population’s social and economic vulnerability. Consequently, the economic implications for the basin’s development are significant.

Project description

The Niger River Basin countries have come to understand that they cannot continue to rely upon unilateral approaches to development if they are to meet the challenge of providing for a growing population from a reduced resource base. Part of this new cooperative approach is to revitalize their basin organization – the Nile Basin Authority (NBA) – and to seek support as they move towards cooperative management at the regional, national and local levels.

The Niger River Basin project therefore addresses the transboundary environmental management and capacity building for the shared water and land resources. It focuses on the increment needed to integrate management of the basin’s resources, representing the major environmental element of the concurrent Strategic Shared Vision and Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP) for the Niger River Basin. There are three major components:

1. Capacity building. Through the capacity building components, the Project supports integrated regional capacity building of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA); national institutions to increase their knowledge base, and decision-making capacities for strategic management of, and development in the Basin; and local capacity building to manage local resources, through community-based implementation of micro-grant supported interventions;
2. Land and water issues. The project’s principle focus is to enable the countries to build a robust partnership to reverse land and water degradation trends of the Niger River Basin, through an integrated and participatory approach to upper and lower basin to land-water and environmental management;
3. Transboundary increment. The project strategically addresses the incremental costs associated with converting the project’s national decision-making capacity and individual national issues, which could be transboundary in nature, into a regional operational context through a Strategic Action Plan (SAP), to achieve global benefits.

The project’s technical components, through the micro-grant-supported demonstration activities, have been designed to develop an understanding of better land management practices in agriculture, forestry, and other relevant sectors; and define mechanisms to improve water quality while reducing degradation of the regional biodiversity and ecosystem. In this way the project offering possibilities for cumulative rural socio-economic benefits for communities that depend on the land and water resources for their livelihood. These possibilities include eco-tourism development as, despite the basin’s potential, there has been limited development of the tourism sector. Eco-tourism may be able to provide alternative livelihoods with negligible environmental impacts.

The project is being jointly implemented by the World Bank and UNDP. World Bank components include: institution building; data and knowledge management; and transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA) and strategic action plan (SAP) preparation. UNDP components are: capacity building and public awareness; development of a regional forum; and demonstration pilot projects and micro-grant program.