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| Delta Intérieur du Niger | |
|---|---|
 Inland Niger Delta | |
 | |
| Location | Sahel area of centralMali |
| Coordinates | 15°12′N4°6′W / 15.200°N 4.100°W /15.200; -4.100 |
| Area | 4,119,500 ha (15,905 sq mi) |
| Official name | Delta Intérieur du Niger |
| Designated | 1 February 2004 |
| Reference no. | 1365[1] |
TheInner Niger Delta, also known as theMacina orMasina,[2] is theinland river delta of theNiger River. It is an area of fluvial wetlands, lakes andfloodplains in the semi-aridSahel area of centralMali, just south of theSahara Desert.
The delta consists of the middle course of theNiger River, between the bifurcatedNiger and its tributary theBani, which from here run north towards the desert. The Niger is the longest river in West Africa. Towns such as the river-port ofMopti,Sévaré andDjenné, with its mud-brickGreat Mosque lie in the 400 km-long region.
TheFulani andDogon inhabit the Macina region and the surrounding area, which has a population of over 500,000. Most of the year the area has a hot and dry climate, with hot winds from the nearby Sahara raising the temperature up to 40 °C or 104 °F. During the wet season, which generally lasts from June to September but is longer the further south one goes, the swamp floods into a lake and naturally irrigates the land. When the dry season comes, the Macina turns into a network of lakes and channels.Cattle,pearl millet, andrice are its important agricultural products. The Macina inland delta also provideswater andfish for the Malians living there and during the wet season is a haven for large numbers of birds.
Due to its proximity to the wideningSahel, there have been concerns that the Macina may be getting less rain every year.
In the early 19th century,Seku Amadu founded aMassina Empire in the region, building a capital atHamdullahi in 1820. The Massina fell to El HadjUmar Tall'sToucouleur Empire in 1862, who in turn fell to theFrench army. The region became a part of the country of Mali on its independence in 1960.
The Niger inland Delta lies in the Sahelian zone, and has anecosystem that is largely dependent on the amount of flooding it receives.[4]
Precipitation in the water basins of the upper course of theBani andNiger rivers makes for rising waterlevels downstream. The rising water floods varying parts of the low-level delta area, with the water rise determined by the amount of rain fallen upstream. This in turn, is influenced by the northward movement of theIntertropical Convergence Zone. A delay exists between the peak amount of precipitation and the maximum water level in the inland delta area. While thewet season lasts three months from July till September, the western and southern edges of the delta area are not flooded until early to mid-October. The consequence is that parts of the delta are flooded while the dry season is well under way.[5] Note that only the lowest patches are flooded annually: higher elevations receive flooding in more intermittent periods due to the changing degrees of waterlevel rises. This division in roughly three zones (flooded, periodically flooded and not-periodically flooded), makes for patches that vary in their nature according to their proximity to a main body water and elevation.
In turn, this strongly affects land use in and around the inland delta, as human impact is driven byagriculture, both irrigated and rainfed,grazing and browsing of herds and flocks and the collection of wood for fuel, all dependent on the availability of water.[4]
The Inland Delta forms a greenoasis in its semi-arid surroundings. Its vegetation growth is limited by the availability of water, thus giving patches more often or longer subject to flooding a denser and more tree-like vegetation cover.[6] As said, flooding cycles follow the precipitation cycle. The vegetation cycle in its turn follows the flooding cycle with a certain delay: it takes days for grasses togerminate after flooding, but months before trees die of a lack of water when floodwater has once again receded.[4]
When classifying vegetation in a grass, shrub and tree layer, up to 80% of vegetation cover in the Sahel consists of grass. In the delta area however, water is more readily available and a larger proportion of cover consists of bushes and trees.Vegetation cover itself changes as well, reaching 100% during and shortly after the flood season. Only low lying patches near a persistent water body are vegetated year-round.[7]
The area is not uniform: according torelief, proximity to a water body and soil type, different species exist. Roughly, three regions with characteristic species can be discerned:
Southern Delta[8] The low-lying floodplains can sustain aquatic plants and grasses including the grassesAcroceras amplectens andEchinochloa pyramidalis, burgu millet (Echinochloa stagnina) and the lovegrassEragrostis atrovirens.
Outer fringes - The grasslands on the edges of the watercourses, are heavily grazed. Plants include the beardgrassAndropogon gayanus, dūrvā grassCynodon dactylon, and the thatching grassHyparrhenia dissoluta. Along the many watercourses,Mimosa asperata andSalix chevalieri grow above aCyperus maculatus understory.
Northern Delta[9] Characterized by emergent sand ridges which sustain the palm treesHyphaene thebaica andBorassus aethiopum, the gum arabic treeAcacia nilotica,Guarea senegalensis,Mimosa asperata andZiziphus mauritiana.
The delta is home to birds in large numbers including hundreds of thousands of winteringgarganeys,pintails andruffs and breeding colonies ofcormorant,heron,spoonbill,ibis and other waterbirds including the endangered West African subspecies ofblack crowned crane (Balearica pavonina pavonina). Most large mammals have been removed from the area by the human population. Mammals remaining include theAfrican manatee, known as thesea cow which lives in the rivers and feeds on underwater plants. And the rivers are rich in fish including two endemics; theMochokidae catfishSynodontis gobroni and acichlid,Gobiocichla wonderi.
The construction of a large irrigation project upstream of the Inner Niger Delta threatens its ecology and the livelihoods of its inhabitants. The 100,000 ha project is an extension to the area irrigated by theOffice du Niger through the Malibya canal. The extension, which was under construction in 2010, is financed by theLibya Africa Investment Portfolio which will also have the right to exploit the irrigated land. According to James Leten, a researcher, the project will reduce the area under deep inundation in the Inner Niger Delta by 43 percent. The area under deep inundation is crucial forpastoralists, because it is only there that Borgou (Echinochloa stagnina) grows, a plant which is particularly nutritious for cattle. Nomadic pastoralists come from as far away as Burkina Faso and Mauritania to allow their cattle to graze on the Borgou of the Inner Niger Delta. According to a report inJeune Afrique, the researcher tried to alert the authorities about the need to find alternative livelihoods for the pastoralists, apparently without success.[10]
ThreeRamsar sites, a total of 1,620 km2 have been declared in the delta;Lac Horo,Lac Debo, and the Séri floodplain. But the delta is largely unprotected and at the same time fishing and farming in the delta is vital to the livelihoods of the people of Mali. Low water levels in the rivers, lack of rain,increasing human population and a break-up of the traditional tribal arrangements for sharing the resources of the delta are all factors that may contribute to severely damaging the ecosystem. In particular fishing is less regulated (in the past only two tribes were permitted to fish) and fish stocks in the rivers are declining. In a similar way lack of control is also causing over-grazing. Finally theSelingue Dam and other water control projects affect the levels and seasonal behaviour of the rivers.
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