Regional cooperation for the joint management of the shared groundwater of Iullemeden-Taoudéni/Tanezrouft and surface waters of the Niger River.
The meeting of the Scientific Committee and the Consultation Mechanism of the Iullemeden-Taoudéni/Tanezrouft Aquifer System (ITTAS) took place over a day and a half on December 20th and 21st, 2023, in Bamako.
Organized by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory in collaboration with the National Directorate of Hydraulics (DNH) of Mali as part of the NB-ITTAS project, this meeting was chaired by Dr. Aboubacar SIDIBE, Acting Director of the National Directorate of Hydraulics (Mali) of the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation (MHA), and Dr. Abdel Kader Dodo, Coordinator of the Water Department at the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS).
The meeting of the scientific committee analyzed the main results achieved under the project, including those from hydrogeological modeling and the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), to provide technical and scientific suggestions and orientations for the project, particularly the development of the conceptual note for the project's second phase.
Following this, the first meeting of the Consultation Mechanism was held from December 21st to 22nd, 2023. The main objective of this meeting was to update the roadmap for the operationalization of this important structure, which will bring together the seven countries of ITTAS (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria). As groundwater governance is crucial for sustainable management and the adaptation of local populations to climate change, OSS was mandated by the Ministers of the seven concerned countries, who met on March 28, 2014, in Abuja (Nigeria), to collect the signatures of the remaining three countries on the agreement protocol for the "creation and establishment of a Consultation Mechanism for the management of ITTAS water resources."