Roland Yonaba

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Verified

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• PhD • Eng • MSc
• Assistant Professor at Institut International d'ingénierie de l'eau et de l'environnement

Groundwater resources in the Kou sub-basin of southwestern Burkina Faso play a critical role in supporting domestic water supply, agriculture, and industry in and around Bobo-Dioulasso, the second-largest city in Burkina Faso. This study synthesizes over three decades of research on groundwater vulnerability, recharge mechanisms, hydrochemistry, an...

Irrigation plays a critical role in agricultural intensification and productivity enhancement, especially in rainfall-scarce environments. Solar pumps have emerged as promising solutions for controlling energy consumption. This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps among horticultural farmers in the K...

Reservoirs play a significant role in the mobilization of water resources in Burkina Faso, contributing to the management and availability of water for various purposes. Operational management of reservoirs requires accurate and timely water level information, which remote sensing can provide cost-effectively and with limited resources. In this stu...

In the Sahel, ensuring food security remains a critical challenge due to the region’s prolonged nine-month dry season and the severe scarcity of water resources for irrigation. This study explores an innovative approach integrating two traditional Sahelian soil conservation methods (Zaï and Half-moon) with controlled irrigation to enhance dry-seaso...

In West Africa, lakes and reservoirs play a vital role as they are critical resources for drinking water, livestock, irrigation, and fisheries. Given the scarcity of in‐situ data, satellite remote sensing is an important tool for monitoring lake volume changes in this region. Several methods have been developed to do this using water height‐area‐vo...

In this study, we simulated and analyzed the impacts of a retention basin as a hydraulic structure for mitigating flood peaks at the inlet of a stormwater drainage canal using the Storage Indication Curve method for various return periods. The adopted methodology involved modeling the hydraulic behavior of the retention basin and its discharge rela...

In recent decades, floods have become a major global concern. In Niamey (Niger) in West Africa, flooding is primarily caused by the significant increase in surface runoff resulting from heavy rainfall occuring between July and September in the upstream river basins of the three major tributaries of the Middle Niger River (Sirba, Gorouol ad Dargol c...

The implementation of sustainable groundwater resource management policies requires long-term monitoring of groundwater levels in aquifers to assess the influence of climate variability on groundwater resource availability and renewal processes. In many sub-Saharan African watersheds, such records are scarce and rarely free of gaps. This study aims...

This study evaluates the accuracy and interpretability of 12 selected machine learning (ML) models for estimating daily reference evapotranspiration (ETo) under semi-arid conditions in Burkina Faso, West African Sahel. Meteorological data (1988–2017) from 9 synoptic stations are used to evaluate model performance. The interpreted variable importanc...

We have witnessed and experienced increasing compound extreme events resulting from simultaneous or sequential occurrence of multiple events in a changing climate. In addition to a growing demand for a clearer explanation of compound risks from a hydrological perspective, there has been a lack of attention paid to socioeconomic factors driving and...

Supplemental irrigation based on runoff harvesting is a sustainable solution in the current context of water scarcity that is prevalent in Sahelian countries. Runoff water harvesting ponds (RWHPs) are increasingly being utilized for vegetable cultivation by producers. This study aims to analyze the cropping choices of producers benefiting from RWHP...

This study evaluates the impact of sub-daily bias correction of gridded rainfall products (RPs) on the estimation rainfall erosivity in Burkina Faso (West African Sahel). Selected RPs, offering half-hourly to hourly rainfall, are assessed against 10 synoptic stations over the period 2001–2020 to appraise their accuracy. The optimal product (the int...

Whilst considerable research has been carried out to understand the effects of reforestation on evapotranspiration (ET), such studies are generally absent in the Sahel even though the region is currently undergoing extensive reforestation to halt desertification and land degradation. The objective of this study is to identify and quantify the domin...

The Taoudéni Basin, spanning 20% of Burkina Faso, holds vital aquifers for the Sahel’s water security and development. However, limited understanding of these aquifers’ hydrodynamics, including the flow patterns, mineralization processes, and renewal rates, hinders sustainable management practices in this arid region. Therefore, this study aims to...

In West Africa, the construction of small earth dams is common against water scarcity. Burkina Faso, an inland country in West Africa, is home to 1001 dams that serve agricultural and pastoral needs. These embankments are predominantly made of compacted laterite, a cost-effective material abundant in over 2/3 of the country. However, these dams deg...

Runoff simulation in highly anthropized catchments is complex, but essential for water management, especially in poorly gauged and data-scarce hydrosystems of the West African Sahel. This study aims to evaluate the effect of different calibration schemes on runoff simulation. The physically-based and semi-distributed hydrological SWAT (Soil and Wat...

In West Africa, lakes and reservoirs play a vital role as they are critical resources for drinking water, livestock, irrigation and fisheries. Given the scarcity of in situ data, satellite remote sensing is an important tool for monitoring lake volume changes in this region. Several methods have been developed to do this using water height and area...

This study focuses on the Sirba River Basin (SRB), a transboundary West African catchment of 38,950 km² shared by Burkina Faso and Niger, which contributes to flooding downstream in Niamey (Niger). The study uses the HEC-HMS hydrological model to explore the dynamics of the daily rainfall–runoff relationship over the period 2006–2020. The model is...

Rainfall erosivity is acknowledged as the most pivotal factor determining soil erosion and land degradagtion, especially in soil degradation prone environment such as sahelian landscapes. Yet, the long-term and accurate assessment of this factor is rarely carried out because of the prevalent of poor gauging networks and data scarcity on raifall obs...

This study compares the performance of satellite precipitation products (SPPs) and soil moisture-based rainfall products (SM2RPPs) in capturing rainfall patterns in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The findings indicate that SPPs outperform SM2RPPs at daily to annual timescales. The decomposition of total bias reveals that hit bias are dominant, but are...

Spatial planning and resource allocation are decisive factors in the effective delivery of sanitation services, especially in urban contexts. In low-income countries, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the design and decision-making process in the delivery of such services is still very limited. This study, conducted in Ouagadougou,...

In Burkina Faso, human activities around water points in rural areas affect groundwater resources, which become unfit for consumption. Nearly 33.5% of boreholes are subject to point source pollution. The assessment of the evolution of such pollution should be monitored to assess groundwater quality. In addition, withdrawals for irrigation alone are...

This study assesses the impacts of climate variability on surface runoff generation in the Mouhoun River Catchment (MRC) in Burkina Faso, in the West African Sahel. The study uses a combination of observed and reanalysis data over the period 1983–2018 to develop a SWAT model (KGE = 0.77/0.89 in calibration/validation) further used to reconstitute t...

The role of climate in the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission appears to be controversial, as reported in earlier studies. In Africa, the subject is poorly documented. In this study, over the period from January 1st, 2020 to September 31, 2022, the daily variations in cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 for each African country (54...

Specific consumption is a key parameter in estimating the water demand and further optimising the sizing of Drinking Water Supply Systems (DWSS) infrastructure. DWSS are globally used to provide safe drinking water in urban and rural settings, and their design cost is critical for water authorities, especially in low-income countries. In this study...

Drought is considered as a complex natural phenomenon that can have significant impacts on societies and economic sectors. Analysis of droughts helps in achieving optimal control of their effects and developing informed mitigation strategies. This study aims to investigate the relationships between meteorological and hydrological droughts in the Na...

The precise estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is critical for water planning in agriculture. However, with the scarcity of data in developing countries, the use of the reference Penman–Monteith FAO-56 (FAO56-PM) equation to estimate ETo is difficult. Besides the quantification of this water balance component, its trends and sensitivi...

This study aims to determine the contribution of land use changes on runoff in the Massili basin in Gonsé. The study methodology is based on the analysis of the temporal variability of rainfall (1975-2019) and discharge (1975-2019) and the diachronic analysis of land use (1975-1991-2007-2019). The statistical tools used are Pettitt’s test, Hubert’s...

In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is used to assess changes in surface runoff between the baseline (1995–2014) and future (2031–2050) periods in the Tougou watershed in Burkina Faso. The study uses a combination of land use maps (for current and future periods) and a bias-corrected ensemble of 9 CMIP6 climate models, un...

Soil erosion varies in space and time. As the contributing surface area increases, heterogeneity effects are amplified, inducing scale effects. In the present study, soil erosion processes as affected by the observation scale and the soil surface conditions are assessed. An experimental field scale setup of 18 plots (1–150 m²) with different soil s...

Groundwater is a vital water supply for local populations and ecosystems globally. With the continuous population growth, the anthropic pressure on groundwater is ever increasing, thus reducing the amount of available water resource. Yet, estimating the impact of anthropogenic activities on aquifer recharge is still a significant challenge for rese...

Air temperature (AT) prediction can play a significant role in studies related to climate change, radiation and heat flux estimation, and weather forecasting. This study applied and compared the outcomes of three advanced fuzzy inference models, i.e., dynamic evolving neural-fuzzy inference system (DENFIS), hybrid neural-fuzzy inference system (HyF...

The COVID-19 pandemic, which outbroke in Wuhan (China) in December 2019, severely hit almost all sectors of activity in the world as a consequence of the restrictive measures imposed. Two years later, Africa still emerges as the least affected continent by the pandemic. This study analyzed COVID-19 prevalence across African countries through countr...

Effects of climate change and variability in West African countries are heightening the vulnerability of local populations, which heavily rely on agriculture and natural resources through ecosystem services. Developing effective water management strategies for mitigation of these impacts requires knowledge of weather, especially rainfall, built upo...

Runoff simulation in highly anthropized watersheds is complex, but essential for water management, especially in poorly gauged and data-scarce hydrosystems of the West African Sahel. In this study, the physically-based and semi-distributed hydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was applied to simulate daily runoff in the Nakanbé w...

In Burkina Faso, the basement aquifers represent a major asset in terms of quantity and quality, for both drinking and irrigation purposes for rural populations. They provide water resources that can guarantee the long-term needs of the populations, provided that a sustainable management policy for these resources is adopted. Yet, any groundwater r...

In this study, an assessment of similarity relationships across runoff measurements at various spatial scales was carried in a typical Sahelian landscape, under semi-arid climate in northern Burkina Faso (west African Sahel). The scales of observations considered are the plot scale (1 m², 50 m², 150 m²) and the sub-catchment scale (6.1 ha, 33.8 ha)...

Study region: Nakanbé River watershed in the West Africa Sahel (WAS). Study focus: This study aims to better understand the hydrological behavior of WAS watersheds, which experienced Sahelian hydrological paradoxes (SHP). Budyko framework was employed to evaluate the impact of climate change, environmental change and climate-environment interacti...

Land use/land cover (LULC) change is a major factor affecting the hydrological response at the watershed scale. However, hydrological modelling, in its current practice, is usually carried using a single and static LULC layer for simulation runs over long periods. Eventually, this approach leads to failure in accounting for LULC spatial and tempora...

Sahelian landscapes have gone through rapid changes over the past decades under high pressure from an ever-growing population, climate hazards and land degradation. Understanding drivers of change and forecasting LULC dynamics in time and space are critical for sustainable land management. This research aimed at analyzing LULC patterns and forecast...

In West Africa, a shift in climate conditions since the 1970s is evidenced by a decrease in average annual rainfall and an increase in temperatures between 1931–1960 and 1968–1990. The latter period was followed by a rainfall recovery since the late 1990s in the western Sahel. The prolonged rainfall deficits of the twentieth century have, however,...

La dynamique spatio-temporelle des états de surface est un facteur déterminant de la réponse hydrologique d’un bassin versant. Ce constat se pose avec plus d’acuité dans le cas des hydrosystèmes sahéliens, où il est avéré que les processus de génération du ruissellement de surface sont sous la quasi-dépendance des états de surface du sol. Parmi le...

Final Ph.D. thesis oral presentation slides

In Sahelian landscapes, land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics and climate variability are already known to affect the water cycle. In its current practice however, hydrological modelling does not account for LULC changes. This issue pertains to rapidly evolving watersheds and might result in critical inaccuracies in the simulated processes. In this s...

A VBA module to calculate the rainy season onset/ending dates and the count of occurrences of dry spells within Ms Excel.

In Sahelian and semi-arid regions, understanding the runoff processes and at different spatial scales is critical to assess sources of variation and further improve distributed modelling. In this study, through a multi-scale analysis, runoff measurements on different soil surface features and at different scales of observation were carried over 6 y...

Face à la péjoration du climat, à la pression anthropique et à la dégradation des terres au Sahel, les paysans adoptent des techniques novatrices dites de Conservation des Eaux et des Sols (CES) pour une agriculture résiliente. Les techniques CES induisent de profondes modifications du bilan hydrologique des sols qu'il importe de quantifier et de c...

In the Sahel region, farmers have adopted various farming practices to improve agricultural yields in order to offset an increasingly variable climate regime and the extension of degraded land. This study analyses the functional behaviour of such three selected water-harvesting techniques (stone rows, zaï and half-moon) as compared to the tradition...

Face à la péjoration du climat au Sahel, à la pression anthropique et à la dégradation des terres, les populations s’adaptent pour une agriculture résiliente à travers les pratiques culturales et techniques CES. Toutes ces techniques induisent de profondes modifications du bilan hydrique des sols qu’il importe de quantifier et de comparer, afin de...

This study aims at assessing the relationship between soil water stock and the yield of agricultural practices in Tougou catchment located in northern Burkina Faso. It is a region that has experienced a significant and continuous degradation of its natural resources, especially soils, due to the climate variability and the rapid increase of the pop...

This following study, conducted in Tougou watersched (northern Burkina Faso) evaluates the performance of farming practices. An experimental design composed of two replicates, each composed of 4 plots of 200 m² with different treatments practices (zaï, halfmoon, stone row and direct seeding for control) were installed on an erosion crusted soil. So...

Le bassin versant de Tougou (37 km²), au climat semi-aride au Nord du Burkina Faso est, à l’instar du contexte sahélien, un milieu fragile soumis à la dégradation continue des ressources naturelles depuis plusieurs décennies. Cette situation qui résulte d’une combinaison de facteurs climatiques (changements climatiques globaux) et anthropiques (pre...

Problématique Objectifs de recherche Méthodologie Perspectives 3 ❑ La dégradation des sols, menace environnementale pour l'Afrique Sub-saharienne (Boyer, 1963; Roose, 1994) ■ BF : 11 % des terres dégradées sur le Plateau Central, 34 % dans la région du Nord (SPCONEDD, 2006) ■ Des populations qui tirent du sol leur subsistance ❑ Erosion hydrique des...