For centuries, wetlands in the arid Sahel region of Africa have acted as lifelines for local communities and wildlife. Yet these wetlands are shrinking at an alarming rate, threatened by a changing climate, rapid population growth and increasing competition for water. We work to safeguard and restore these freshwater flows. How can people and nature survive at the edge of the Sahara Desert?
Where we work
Sahel wetlands include rivers and their floodplains, seasonal lakes and ponds set amid arid and semi-arid landscapes. This freshwater provides food and fodder for farmers, fishers, and pastoralists. It also support seasonal patterns of migration for people and animals including millions of waterbirds that breed in Europe.
Water is already a scarce resource in this region and likely to dwindle further. The rising need for food and energy production is driving upstream water abstraction, often at the expense of the seasonal floods. This poses a threat to downstream wetlands and the communities and nature that depend on them.
The area of floodplain wetlands in the Sahel is shrinking. To halt and reverse this trend, we build the capacity of governments, civil society organisations and local communities to understand the values of these wetlands, to take action in their sustainability and to adapt to a changing climate. Our ambition is to increase the reach of our current work across the Sahel from coast-to-coast.
Along the Ewaso Nyiro River in Kenya, the Karamoja Region of Uganda and the Somali Region of Ethiopia, we work with our partners Red Cross, CARE and CORDAID to strengthen the livelihoods and water provision of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in a changing climate. We do this through ecosystem management and restoration (EMR) approaches that restore degraded ecosystems, create sustainable agricultural practices and improve management of water and natural resources. Through this Partners for Resilience (PfR) project, communities and other stakeholders that were once vulnerable become more resilient to climate change induced hazards. NGOs/CBOs are also empowered in applying the integrated approach (Disaster Risk Reduction /Climate Change Adaptation/ EMR) in assistance as well as contribute to a stronger voice for civil society. Their engagement in policy dialogue solicited endorsement of the PfR approach by government institutions
In Kenya and Uganda, we are contributing to sustainable Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) by focusing on improvements in integrated water resources management and governance. This is through strengthening civil society capacity in lobbying and advocacy as well as engaging a broad range of stakeholders.