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The Niger River Basin
Niger River Basin Countries
Guinea
Côte d’Ivoire
Mali
Burkina Faso
Algeria
Benin
Niger
Chad
Cameroon
Nigeria
West Africa
Colonial (and post-colonial) influence
French, British and Portuguese
Persistent divisions / alliances
Frequent political instability
ECOWAS
Country
Equiv.
Size ≈
Population
(millions)
Per capita
GDP
GDP
External
Debt
Guinea
OR
9
$2,000
$15.9B
$3.4B
Côte D’Ivoire
NM
17
$1,500
$24.5B
$10.3B
2 x TX
12
$860
$9.8B
$3.3B
CO
13
$1,080
$13.6B
$1.3B
3.5 x TX
33
$5,300
$167B
$21.6B
Benin
PA
7
$1,070
$7.3B
$1.6B
Niger
2 x TX
11
$830
$8.8B
$1.6B
Chad
3 x CA
9
$1,100
$10B
$1.1B
CA
16
$1,700
$27B
$8.6B
2 x CA
134
$835
$113.5B
$29.7B
Ukraine
21
$35,597
$818B
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Mali
Burkina Faso
Algeria
Cameroon
Nigeria
Texas
Water-Related Issues
Increasing population and development
Hydroelectric potential
Irrigation potential
Potential environmental impacts?
Pollution - agricultural and industrial
Desertification
Deforestation
Organizations & Initiatives
Niger Basin Authority
ECOWAS
African Development Bank
Bilateral development grants
Discussion
 Should the Niger Basin Authority focus on funding and
executing development projects or developing a basin-wide
plan for development and management?
 How much autonomy and authority should the Nile Basin
Authority have?
 How can the Niger Basin Authority be most effective? How
can the international community help?
 How much should developed countries be able to dictate
the terms of development to developing countries? Should
historical issues like colonial injustices and the transAtlantic slave trade be taken into account?
 Are there any lessons – either positive or negative – that
other basins can learn from the Niger Basin?