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Are upstream projects a good idea on managing floodplains in Nigeria?

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

These next few posts will move away from the Nile Basin and focus on case studies in Nigeria. This particular post will look at the politics surrounding the creation of upstream projects at the detriment of floodplains. 

Floodplains are essential ecological and economic resources but the benefits they bring to local communities are not recognised enough. The continuous push to carry on with upstream projects has an adverse effect of diverting floodwater away from these wetlands that are critical to bringing economic benefits to so many (Barbier and Thompson, 1998).

Residents fishing in the Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands

A brief summary on the various resources that floodplains bring to communities is that they provide food and income through fishing, vegetation for livestock and fuelwood resources and water for irrigation and domestic power and use. The soils in floodplains are more fertile than upland soil and thus brings agricultural benefits too. An example is the Hadejia-Jama’are wetlands in Northeastern Nigeria, which lies in the convergence of the Hadejia and Jama’are rivers which then forms the Yobe River. However, these wetlands have been directly affected from upstream water resource projects and droughts, which are only going to become more frequent with climate change (Barbier and Thompson, 1998). It’s suggested to avoid any further losses, that any proposed large-scale projects should be scrapped, and a more regulated flooding scheme should be considered for the existing upstream projects (Barbier and Thompson, 1998). This is easier said than done, as we also need to consider if there are viable resources present in these countries such as Nigeria to appropriately research and plan such consultations. There is an obvious lack of funding for these floodplain management consultations and also a shortage of expert skills to provide these services (Uchegbu, 2003). 

At the time it was clear that governments when considering the building of dams did not take into consideration the impacts such large-scale projects could have on floodplains and the communities that rely on it. Therefore, such consequences will need to be properly assessed before the construction of dams and other such projects upstream in the future.  Dams are likely to severely reduce the amount of water that flows downstream, and thus reduce the number of fish available for fishing for fishermen and reduced agriculture. As a result of the Bakolori Dam built in Nigeria, the dam led to a decline in rice crops (a net loss of 7000ha) and people moving away from this to lower valued sorghum and millet crops (a net increase of 6000ha and 4000 ha) (Adams, 1985). With this particular example, it’s also estimated that the downstream losses through less fishery and rice crops, exceed the original predicted benefits the Bakolori Dam was supposed to bring to the Sokoto floodplains, such as more productive fishery (Adams, 1985). The failure of the supposed benefits the Bakolori Dam was meant to bring meant that the losses faced by the communities of the Sokoto floodplains were even more felt. 

Overall, it’s clear to see that upstream projects do bring considerable losses to the traditional livelihoods of so many that rely on floodplains for their economic income. This is because governments and those in charge of constructing these large reservoirs need to consider the long-term influences and undertake proper consultations of the downstream impacts. In the past downstream impacts has simply taken a back burner when planning processes of dam constructions have taken place, hopefully this has changed since.  Especially in the case of Africa, where some of the semiarid regions completely rely on floodplains for economic benefits during dry seasons. 


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