Village on the Niger River, Mali

Listed as a Ramsar site since 2004, the Inner Niger Delta, which has a little more than a million inhabitants, is situated in the zone of confluence of the Niger River with its tributary, the Bani River. It is the vastest continental wetland of Western Africa (13.500 square miles or 35.000 square kilometers) and the second on this continent after the delta of Okavango in Botswana. In the heart of Sahel, it is an ecosystem of great ecological and economic importance, but also offers a great ethnic diversity. Every community assumes a particular socioeconomic function: breeding, fishing, gathering or small crafts. For some decades, periods of drought, extensive exploitation of the resources due to an increasing demographics and impoverishment of the populations, disturb the balance of this wetland. The annual production of fish, cattle and rice depends on the river flow and are not sufficient anymore to feed the local populations in dry years. The consequences on the fauna are also worrisome: the big wild animals disappeared and the populations of small ungulates underwent considerable losses. Since 1900, half of the wetlands of the Planet have disappeared; they play nevertheless an irreplaceable role in the regulation of river flows and in the purification of water.