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Four thousand two hundred kilometres long, with a catchment area of almost 2 000 000 km2 and shared by nine countries, (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad), the Niger River is the third largest river in Africa, after the Nile and the Congo, and is the largest in West Africa. The population living in the river basin is estimated to be around 150 million, and they live mainly from agriculture, livestock farming and fishing, as well as other production activities directly or indirectly related to the water resource.
The basin offers definite advantages as regards farming, fishing, energy production and economic and social development. However, the repeated droughts of the past three decades, demographic pressure on natural resources and the lack of effective policy and investment aimed at preserving the environment, have led to an acceleration of land and water resource degradation including, in particular, silting up of the river, the proliferation of floating vegetation and weakening of ecosystems, engendering tension and conflict amongst those who live and depend on these resources.
Faced with the increased degradation of basin resources and the ever increasing needs in terms of food security, energy and development, the member states of the NBA decided to implement a shared vision process.
As mediator and moral authority, the ISW has been contributing since 2004 to ensure the official participation of resource persons from the field with experience in participatory management. It has supported civil society so that it may be present and contribute to the different stages of the shared vision process. The ISW has also systematically disseminated the results of this process on an international level. |
