A.Y. Bossa

National Water Institute (INE) University of Abomey-Calavi Benin · Department of Water for Agriculture and the Society (DEAS)

With climate change and intensification of the hydrological cycle, the stationarity of hydrological variables is becoming questionable, requiring appropriate flood assessment models. Frequency analysis is widely used for flood forecasting. This study aims to determine the most suitable models (stationary and non-stationary) for estimating the maxim...

Flood risk management is crucial for climate change resilience. The Hadejia River basin is known for severe and frequent floods, which have destroyed houses and farmlands and claimed many lives. This study developed a GIS-based flood risk and vulnerability mapping assessment using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) to outline scenarios that...

Floods are among the most devastating natural disasters and are expected to become more severe with changing climate and population growth. Flood forecasting is one of the key components of flood risk reduction. The potential for seasonal flood forecasting through climate indexes has not been studied for West Africa so far. This work investigates h...

This study addresses the importance of integrating the effect of land use on soil infiltration rate into land use change impact modeling. Based on a validated version 9.05.04 of the Water balance Simulation Model-WaSiM (statistical quality measures > 0.7), and field measurement of the infiltration rate under cropland and fallow, sixteen model simul...

Floods are natural disasters that widely affect people and goods. Its frequency and magnitude are projected to substantially increase due to the ongoing environmental change. At regional and national levels, some efforts have been made in predicting floods at a short-term range. However, the usefulness of flood prediction increases as the time lead...

West African populations are increasingly exposed to heavy rainfall events which cause devastating floods. For the design of rainwater drainage facilities (to protect populations), practitioners systematically use the Gumbel distribution regardless of rainfall statistical behaviour. The objective of this study is twofold. The first is to update exi...

This study evaluates the impact of future climate change (CC) on the hydropower generation potential of the Bamboi catchment (Black Volta) in West Africa using a conceptual rainfall-runoff model (HBV light) and regional climate models (RCMs)–global climate models (GCMs). Two climate simulation datasets MPI-ESM-REMO (CORDEX) and GFDL-ESM2M-WRF (WASC...

Understanding climate change impacts helps adaptation efforts in the energy sector. This study evaluates the impact of future climate change on the hydropower potential (HPP) of the Bamboi catchment in West Africa combining the HBV-light rainfall-runoff model and a hydropower generation model. Two regional climate simulation datasets MPI-ESM-REMO a...

A soil fertility index map (SFIm) can provide key information to decision-makers in regard to spatial planning in the context of sustainable land management. The establishment of such SFIm requires basic soil properties that can be modelled for spatial mapping. The objective of this study was to take advantage of Benin soil legacy data to produce a...

Water Resources Commission (WRC), Ghana 5 National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Ghana Ghana is one of the countries most prone to floods in West Africa. Its annual occurrence often leads to disasters that are mostly felt by the urban poor. Despite the existence of salient activities conducted in order to reduce the flood risk in Ghana,...

Understanding temporal variability in groundwater levels is essential for water resources management. In sub-Saharan Africa, groundwater level dynamics are poorly constrained due to limited long-term observations. Here, we present the first published analysis of temporal variability in groundwater levels at the national scale in sub-Saharan Africa,...

Flood recession farming practiced in flood-prone areas and on the banks of rivers and lakes in arid or semi-arid environments essentially depends on the soil water stock after the flood has receded. During these last few decades, this coveted agriculture is increasingly challenged by severe water constraints, due to increased hydrological hazards a...

Freshwater supply remains limited in West Africa due to lack of operational governance frameworks. In this study, the Water flow and balance Simulation Model (WaSiM) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were applied in the Ouriyori catchment (14.5 km², Benin) to assess hydrological ecosystem services (HES) in terms of service flow and serv...

This article evaluates the current gaps and describes opportunities for improving flood risk management (FRM) in Ghana, West Africa. A mixed‐method participatory approach comprising questionnaires, workshops, interviews with key stakeholders, and a systematic literature review were employed. Existing problems, discourses, FRM practices, and opportu...

The need for a detailed investigation of the Vea catchment water balance components cannot be overemphasized due to its accelerated land cover dynamics and the associated impacts on the hydrological processes. This study assessed the possible consequences of land-use change scenarios (i.e. business as usual, BAU, and afforestation for the year 2025...

Le futur de l’Afrique de l’Ouest dépend de la capacité du secteur de l’agriculture à s’adapter pour garantir la sécurité alimentaire dans un contexte de changement climatique et de croissance démographique. Pour faciliter cette adaptation, la recherche a déployé d’importants efforts pour améliorer les connaissances sur les mécanismes climatiques et...

High rainfall events and flash flooding are becoming more frequent, leading to severe damage to crop production and water infrastructure in Burkina Faso, Western Africa. Special attention must therefore be given to the design of water control structures to ensure their flexibility and sustainability in discharging floods, while avoiding overdrainag...

L'agriculture de décrue a régressé un peu partout à travers le monde, en raison de la régulation des fleuves par les barrages et de l'expansion des périmètres irrigués, et à cause de la baisse des pluies dans certaines régions comme l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Elle apparaît rarement dans les statistiques agricoles des États et de la FAO, ou dans les poli...

L'agriculture de décrue est un mode de production ancestral qui a permis aux populations des plaines inondables africaines de survivre, et même de développer des sociétés avancées comme l'Égypte pharaonique, le Tekrour, le Ghana, les empires malien ou songhaï. Elle a l'avantage de fournir une production appréciable en saison sèche, et nécessite trè...

Les bas-fonds soudaniens représentent un espace de développement rapide de la riziculture, qui est en recherche de durabilité, sur un plan écologique, social et économique (RODENBURG et al.,2013). Mais les risques élevés confinent souvent la riziculture à des pratiques de nature extensive (MANZELLI et al.,2015). En tant que culture ayant une place...

Au Burkina Faso, pays sahélien vulnérable aux risques climatiques, les bas-fonds humides des zones soudano-sahéliennes ont joué un rôle agricole croissant à partir des sécheresses de 1970-1990 selon une fonction anti-risque (SERPANTIÉ et ZOMBRE, 1994). Du fait de cette propriété anti-aléatoire, l'aménagement des terres de bas-fonds pour la culture...

L'agriculture africaine fait face à de nouveaux risques, tant du fait des changements climatiques (BROWN et CRAWFORD, 2008) que des transformations de l'agriculture elle-même. Les risques agricoles résultent de plusieurs composantes : les aléas, les enjeux et la vulnérabilité (ELDIN et MILLEVILLE, 1989 ; LEONE et al., 2010). Les enjeux agricoles vo...

Le futur de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, son équilibre économique, politique et social dépendent de la capacité du secteur de l'agriculture à s'adapter pour garantir la sécurité alimentaire dans un contexte de pressions multiples comme celles engendrées par le changement climatique et la croissance démographique. Pour faciliter cette adaptation, la recher...

Several developed inland valleys for rice production were abandoned due to poor design or implementation. The Bankandi inland valley (BIV) is a contour bunds system developed in 2006 by a development project, currently experiencing a systematic waterlogging. This study assessed: (1) the waterlogging vs. changing hydro-climatic conditions relationsh...

Surface observations provide ground evidence of climate change to support the scientific guidance paving the way to better adaptation and mitigation actions. The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) has designed a multi-stakeholder initiative to rescue the deteriorated near-surface weather, climate and...

Following the recurrence of flood events observed through West Africa, particularly in Benin, this last decade, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of land use and climate change on flood hazard in the Ouémé River was done based on heavy rainfall, extreme discharge and land use change scenarios. The results show that the number of flood events,...

Land use and land cover in the Dano catchment is characterized by a rapid conversion from seminatural vegetation (fallow) to agriculture (cropland). The study compares both the saturated ( Ks ) and the unsaturated ( Kh ) hydraulic conductivities under cropland and fallow in the catchment to gain insights into the effect of the current land use on s...

We analyze here the intensity of the 2017 rainy season in West Africa with particular focus on the characteristics of the precipitation events as well as the propagating Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs). This is to provide a context for the multiple flood events that occurred in most West African capital cities during 2017. The analysis reveals...

Climate change is unequivocal. The increase of global temperature since the pre-industrial period has not only intensified the extremes events but also increased their frequency of occurrences. Such events are often translated into climate hazards. These climate hazards have resulted in major disasters with losses of infrastructures, economy, natur...

Dans la région soudanienne du Burkina Faso riche en bas-fonds, ces derniers représentent une facette du paysage inondable et fertile, ayant une fonction contre-aléatoire à travers des productions diversifiées en milieu humide en saison des pluies, et en contre-saison. Les activités de bas-fond permettent de réduire la vulnérabilité des groupes les...

Core Ideas A new hydrometeorological observatory was established for the Sudan Savanna. More than 30 hydrometeorological variables in subhourly resolution are provided. Water, energy, and CO 2 fluxes are monitored along a land use change gradient. The data form the basis for an improved impact assessment of environmental changes. It is an excellent...

This paper explores the key factors influencing market participation decisions among smallholder lowland rice growers. Data were collected through purposive sampling technique. A total of 127 rice growers, from 16 lowlands (developed and traditional lowlands), was selected. Descriptive statistics and the probit regression model were used to analyse...

Purpose - The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relative importance of climate normals (average long-term temperature and precipitation), in explaining net farm revenue per hectare (NRh) for supplementary irrigated and rainfed cocoa farms in Nigeria. Design - Net revenue per farm hectare was estimated for 280 cocoa farmers sampled acro...

This study used the Ricardian analytical framework to examine the relative importance of climate normals (average long-term temperature and precipitation) in explaining net revenue per hectare (NRh) for cocoa farms in Nigeria under supplementary irrigated and rainfed conditions. A farm-household survey involving 280 cocoa farmers across seven cocoa...

The main purpose of this paper is to estimate farmers' preferences and their willingness to pay (WTP) for ecosystem services derived from four agricultural water management (AWM) and resource recovery and reuse (RRR) intervention options in Burkina Faso, using a choice experiment (CE). These include; small water infrastructure, drip irrigation, rec...

This study evaluates climate change impacts on water resources using an ensemble of six regional climate models (RCMs)–global climate models (GCMs) in the Dano catchment (Burkina Faso). The applied climate datasets were performed in the framework of the COordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX-Africa) project. After evaluation of...

KEY MESSAGES: - Support farmers in ways that enable them to invest in new technologies. ƒƒ- Establish a flexible grant system aimed at women and youth groups to provide them with credit to buy drip irrigation equipment, ƒƒ- Improve linkages between producers, markets and consumers by creating and strengthening value chains and facilitating the flow...

This paper describes the results of a choice experiment measuring social benefits for sustainable management practices related to water and resource recovery and reuse solutions in agricultural in Burkina-Faso for ecosystem services preservation. Sustainable management is conceptualized with four illustrative practices that impact water availabilit...

This study evaluates climate change impacts on water resources using an ensemble of six Regional Climate Models (RCMs)-Global Climate Models (GCMs) in the Dano catchment (Burkina Faso). The applied climate datasets were performed in the framework of the COordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX-Africa) project. After evaluation of...

This study investigates the impacts of land use change on water resources in the Dano catchment, Burkina Faso, using a physically based hydrological simulation model and land use scenarios. Land use dynamic in the catchment was assessed through the analysis of four land use maps corresponding to the land use status in 1990, 2000, 2007, and 2013. A...

Many studies have dealt with crop production under climate change projections in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on average long term trends over time-windows of five to twenty years. The efforts undertaken in this study rather combine effective farm management/abiotic factors (e.g., soil tillage, sowing date, fertilizer use, soil fertility status) wi...

Scale-dependent parameter models were developed and nested to the Soil and Water Assessment Tool-SWAT to simulate climate and land use change impacts on water-sediment-nutrient yields in Benin at a regional scale (49,256 km²). Weighted contributions of relevant landscape attributes characterizing the spatial pattern of ongoing hydrological processe...

CO2 production and transport from forest floors is an important component of the carbon cycle and is closely related to the global atmosphere CO2 concentration. If we are to understand the feedback between soil processes and atmospheric CO2, we need to know more about the spatio-temporal variability of this soil respiration under different environm...

CO2 production and transport from forest floors is an important component of the carbon cycle and is closely related to the global atmosphere CO2 concentration. If we are to understand the feedback between soil processes and atmospheric CO2, we need to know more about the spatio-temporal variability of this soil respiration under different environm...

Assessment studies of N and P loads to water systems have developed from simple descriptions based on monitoring and sampling into the analysis of multiple scenarios using simulation models. In this study, water, sediment, and nutrient delivery to the stream flow at the Donga-Pont river catchment outlet (586 km2) in the Republic of Benin, West Afri...

Beyond aspects such as the quantification of soil and water degradation, this work investigated impacts of differences in the input boundary conditions (e.g. soil map, land use) on the performance of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Effects of different local crop management scenarios (e.g. fertilizer input) on the simulation of plant gro...

Distributed physically-based models require large amount of data, including detailed spatial information (e.g. geology, soil, vegetation). The relevance of spatial information highly depends on the modeling scale and may control the modeling issue, mainly model parameters, which already depend on model assumptions and target processes. In this stud...

Besides other information, environmental modeling requires data concerning soil properties and their spatial distribution. The quality and the applicability of soil maps not only depend on their scales, but also on the concept of the mapping procedures. To study the effects of different soil mapping approaches on the performance of the Soil and Wat...