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GEF - Niger Basin Regional Workshop, Niamey, April 2002

GEF - Niger Basin Regional Workshop in Niamey (15-18th April 2002) : "Reversing land and water degradation trends in the Niger River Basin"

A Regional Workshop of the GEF - Niger Basin Authority (NBA) project on "Reversing Land and Water Degradation Trends in the Niger River Basin" was held from 15th to 18th April 2002 in Niamey. The meeting was attended by all the NBA member countries representatives except those from Mali. Furthermore, representatives of inter-African and international institutions were in attendance.

In the absence of Anada Tiega - who had other commitments - WWF's Denis Landenbergue had the mandate from the Ramsar Bureau to represent the Convention on Wetlands, in his double capacity as an officer of the WWF-Living Waters Programme and as a delegate from one of the official Ramsar partners, WWF International. IUCN, another official Ramsar partner, was also represented in Niamey.

The objectives of the meeting related to issues including the improvement of the GEF-Niger Basin Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and the approval of 10 pilot demonstration projects to be undertaken in the Niger basin.

One out of the 10 selected pilot demonstration projects was proposed in each of the 9 NBA member countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria), with a tenth one proposed to be managed directly by the NBA Secretariat in Niamey. Out of these 10 pilot project sites, at least three are expected to be located in existing Ramsar Sites.

In ceremonies associated with the workshop, M. Mohammed Bello Tuga, Executive Secretary of the Niger Basin Authority, signed a letter from the NBA (co-signed with the Director General of WWF International and the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention) to the Secretary General of the United Nations, His Excellency Kofi Annan, reporting Guinea's designation of six new Ramsar sites in the Niger Basin, as called for by Decision 6 of NBA Heads of State and Government on 16 February 2002.

A number of the related documents are available here -- see the menu below.

Mohammed Bello Tuga, Executive Secretary of the Niger Basin Authority, signs the NBA's letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan, Denis Landenbergue of WWF's Living Waters Programme looking on.

Decision 6 of the 7th Summit of NBA Heads of State and Government held on February 16, 2002, in the Conference Hall of the ECOWAS Secretariat, in Abuja, Nigeria. (English, Français)
Letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, 19 April 2002, from Claude Martin (WWF International), Mohammed Bello Tuga (Niger Basin Authority), and Delmar Blasco (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands).
Excerpt of the speech made by Mr. Adamu Namata, Minister of Water Resources, Environment and Desertification Control of Niger, at the Closing Session of the Ministerial meeting of N.B.A. member States held in Niamey (as part of the GEF-Niger Basin Regional Workshop) on 18th April 2002 Ministre nigérien des Ressources en Eau, de l'Environnement et de la Lutte contre la Désertification, en clôture de la Réunion ministérielle des Etats membres de l'A.B.N. (Authorité du Bassin du Niger) tenue dans le cadre de l'Atelier Régional FEM-bassin du fleuve Niger (Niamey, 18 avril 2002)
Letter from the Ramsar Bureau to the workshop

 

Mr Seyni Seydou (front right), Ramsar focal point for Niger, observing the progress of the workshop.

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 30 April 2002, Dwight Peck, Ramsar, with thanks for material supplied by Denis Landenbergue, WWF Living Waters Programme.

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