Mali celebrates in an alarming context

The official ceremony was chaired by Mr. Drissa Samaké, technical advisor to the Ministry of Energy and Water. This year, Mali is celebrating the event in a particularly alarming context. According to the Deputy Director General of Hydraulics, Mr. Djorou Bocoum, water stress has never been so present in Mali since 1984. Rivers usually withdraw in January, but this year, he explains, they began to withdraw in September.

Stressing Drissa Samaké said that this situation of drying up of the water courses is partly due to human activities. He explained that gold mining activities by dredging in the riverbeds of the Niger, Bani and Falémé river basins, is negatively impacting various socio-economic activities. Samaké believes that human action will lead to three major consequences: the lack of drinking water, the threat to food security and the decline in hydroelectricity production. According to the minister's representative, efforts are being made by the government. Thus, he says, the rate of access to drinking water at the national level rose from 66.6 to 68% in 2017.

During the day, experts spoke to participants during a two-part conference on some nature-based solutions as well as equitable access to water resources in Mali. Presentations were made by several partners including wetlands International, Solidarités international, Somapep SA.

The CWP chair, Mr. Mamadou SYLLA was facilitating the debate during the event.