Rivers without borders: Collaborative action for the Niger Basin

The Niger River Basin, spanning nine countries and home to roughly 180 million people, is a lifeline for communities relying on its waters for food and livelihoods. About 80 percent of the population depends on small-scale farming, livestock, and artisanal fisheries, which support around one million people and yield 167,000 to 326,000 tonnes of fish annually - a vital source of protein and nutrients. Managed by the Niger Basin Authority (NBA), the 4,200-kilometre river sustains drinking water, irrigation, industry, energy, and transport across Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. These fisheries rely on the seasonal ebb and flow of the river, but climate change, overexploitation, pollution, and ecosystem degradation are disrupting water levels and threatening the basin’s health.

Having agreed on the urgency of addressing these challenges to preserve their aquatic ecosystems and inland fisheries, the NBA has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to identify the most effective ways to implement integrated water resource management (IWRM) measures, using inland fisheries as an entry point to assess basin ecosystem health.

“The Niger River Basin is a precious collective ecosystem, and its water resources must be managed responsibly and in a coordinated way to ensure not only food security but also fair, long-term benefit sharing for all our peoples and all our economic sectors, including inland fisheries,” says Kocou Armand Houanye, Executive Secretary of the NBA.

Representatives from the NBA countries convened at an FAO Regional Workshop on IWRM in Cotonou, Benin, from 24-26 March. Also taking part were representatives from the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Network of Basin Organizations, which has 192 members, and the International Water Management Institute, a non-profit organization.

The workshop aimed to integrate the sustainable management of inland fisheries into broader IWRM practices. Covering governance structures and regional cooperation, the event aimed to develop practical, cross-border solutions for managing water resources, preserving ecosystems, and supporting regional livelihoods.

"We are proud to host this important regional workshop where the nine riparian countries can come together to find common and consensual solutions to the challenges we share," stressed José Didier Tonato, Minister of Energy, Water, and Mines of the Republic of Benin.

Collective action for shared challenges

The environmental challenges facing the Niger River Basin are complex and interconnected. Pollution from agricultural runoff, industrial waste, and altered water levels due to climate change and overexploitation are undermining the region's aquatic ecosystems. These environmental stressors threaten not only biodiversity but also the livelihoods of millions who depend on the river for their survival.

The NBA and FAO have recognized the urgency of addressing these challenges through cooperative, cross-border initiatives. The IWRM framework, which integrates stakeholder participation and intersectoral coordination, is seen as an essential tool to promote sustainable resource use. The region’s leaders have committed to identifying pilot projects that will address these challenges through a collaborative, basin-wide approach.

“We must come up with collective responses to collective problems, which no single country can solve on its own,” said Dine Mahma Saliou, Deputy Chief of Staff to Benin’s Minister of Energy, Water, and Mines. "Regional cooperation is therefore essential to achieving meaningful change on the ground, for the benefit of both present and future generations."

Strengthening regional cooperation and scaling solutions

The Cotonou workshop is part of FAO's Global Initiative on Integrated Water Resources Management and Inland Fisheries, which was launched in 2023. This initiative aims to restore overexploited fisheries and ecosystems by strengthening collaboration across borders and sectors through partnerships with Regional Fishery Bodies, Member States and Basin Management Organizations. Similar efforts are taking place in other major river basins, including Lake Titicaca, Lake Victoria, and the Mekong River Basin, where countries are working together to address shared environmental and socio-economic challenges.

Discussions focused on identifying transboundary pilot project proposals that can address multiple challenges at the same time, such as improving water management, restoring ecosystems, and strengthening fisheries governance in line with broader IWRM principles and applying the intersectoral methodology developed by FAO and its partners.

“IWRM is based on participatory and intersectoral processes that promote the coordinated development and management of shared resources to maximize social and economic benefits equitably, without compromising the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems,” says Valerio Crespi, FAO Fishery Officer.