Abstract
Since the 1970s, the Niger basin has been characterized by hydro-climatic changes which have significant impacts on local populations. These changes are not well documented as a result of a decreasing observation network for hydro-climatic data. Indigenous peoples’ knowledge has increasingly been considered an important component in addressing these data gaps. We evaluated the consistency of indigenous perceptions and adaptive responses with rainfall and river discharge observations in the Niger basin. Socioeconomic data were collected from 239 households in 30 communities across two settlements in the Niger basin. Data on historical rainfall and river discharge from 1950 to 2010 were analyzed and the consistency with local perceptions was assessed. Generally, there was a high agreement between observations and perceptions, but impacts of climate change in the communities were dependent on social and environmental factors that can introduce differences in perception despite identical observations. Indigenous perceptions gave good indication of the most vulnerable sectors as well as communities who also displayed the greatest willingness to combat climate change. These results suggest that integration of indigenous perceptions into climate change science, especially in data scarce regions, is highly valuable.
Highlights
Climate change has significant impacts on ecosystems and societies in West Africa and adaptation to it is hindered by poorly documented historical climate trends and future projections
We evaluated the consistency of indigenous perceptions and adaptive responses with rainfall and river discharge observations in the Niger basin
This study aimed at ameliorating these challenges by evaluating consistency of local perceptions with recent observations starting from 1990; after recovery from the West African drought was witnessed in some parts of the region (Ali and Lebel 2009)
Summary
Climate change has significant impacts on ecosystems and societies in West Africa and adaptation to it is hindered by poorly documented historical climate trends and future projections. Historical climate trends are not properly captured in the region due to inadequate and deteriorating amount of reliable observation stations since 1980 (Ali and Lebel 2009). Satellite-based observations of precipitation have been identified with inherent biases in the region as a result of insufficient ground-based data for calibration and validation (Sylla et al 2013). This has led to contradictory results from climate trend studies at local and subregional scales. The recent discovery of a precipitation gradient from eastern to western Sahel (Lebel and Ali 2009) in addition to the north–south Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) influence on rainfall distribution is a factor of importance for reliable hydrological predictions in West Africa
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