Water-use accounts in CPWF basins: Simple water-use accounting of the Niger Basin | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
December 2010
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
handle:10568/4697
License of the resource: 

This paper applies the principles of water-use accounts, developed in the first of the

series, to the Niger River basin in West Africa. The Niger Basin covers 10 countries, and

rises in the highlands of southern Guinea near the border with Sierra Leone just 240

km inland from the Atlantic Ocean, but there are substantial downstream tributaries

from Cameroon and Nigeria. A unique feature is the inland delta which forms where its

gradient suddenly decreases.

Net runoff is about 12% of total precipitation. Grassland is the most extensive

vegetation, covering 50% of the Basin, consuming about 39% of the precipitation.

Rainfed agriculture covers 26% of the basin and use about 27% of the precipitation.

Irrigated agriculture covers less than 1% of the Basin and uses also less than 1% of the

water.

Climate change, using an assumed change in rainfall distribution, shows that climate

change may have a large impact on water availability in the lower Basin, and hence on

the River’s wetlands.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Mainuddin, M.
Eastham, J.
Kirby, M.

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CGIAR (CGIAR)

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