The Impact of Water Management on Poverty and the Environment in the Upper Niger River Basin (Mali)

Abstract

Water shortage is a severe problem for millions of people living along the southern fringe of the Sahara desert. Therefore, communities living in the semi-arid, western Sahel zone fully depend on rivers such as the Niger river. Mali is a classic case of a ‘river-dependent economy’ that is subject to enormous seasonal variation in rainfall and river flow. A popular solution to this climate dependency in the western Sahel zone has been the development of hydroelectric and hydro-agricultural irrigation schemes. Although Mali’s hydroelectric and hydro-agricultural potential has yet to be fully realised, it is widely questioned whether the costs and benefits of such mega-investments are properly estimated. Besides the economic feasibility (i.e. direct costs and benefits) of additional dams, it is still unclear what the indirect effects of hydroelectric and hydro-agricultural schemes are on downstream beneficiaries of rivers. These beneficiaries include fishermen, cattle breeders, shipping companies and farmers, as well as the biodiversity of the river and connected floodplains. The main objective of this study is to determine the role of dams and irrigation schemes in the overall economy and ecology of the Inner Niger Delta and the upstream region in Mali and Guinea. An integrated assessment has been conducted to determine the direct and indirect costs and benefits of different management regimes in the Niger river, starting with an analysis of potential changes to the hydrology, then subsequent ecological impacts and finally the social and economic effects. In estimating the costs and benefits associated with dams in the Niger River basin, various valuation techniques have been applied such as the production function approach and the contingent valuation method. All in all, this study shows that improving the performance of the existing infrastructure as well as the economic activities in the Inner Niger Delta itself, is a significantly more efficient way to increase economic growth, reduce poverty and protect the environment in the region than the building of a new dam and hydropower plant.