Tackling climate change in West Africa

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

16 September 2008

Burkina Faso hosted an international conference on the impact of climate change on water resources in West Africa.

The conference in Ouagadougou presented findings from the German-African research project Global Change and the Hydrological Cycle (GLOWA) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The conference, aimed to develop solutions from discussions on the issue, presented international research and was attended by both the national and international community.

WaterAid in Burkina Faso's Head of Programme, Agbenyo Wozuame discussed WaterAid's experience in recharging the water table, the arsenic issue and possible solutions on an interview for TV5 Monde.
 
Research findings predicted that the region is set to experience strong warming, decrease in precipitation, increase in rainfall variability, increase in dry spells and increases and decreases in runoff. WaterAid in Burkina Faso country representative, Yéréfolo Mallé, expressed his concern over these effects on the region and the need for WaterAid to respond by continuing to provide access to safe water for the poor.

"Climate change threatens weather patterns and we will see changes to water quality, quantity and availability which will all impact on WaterAid's work and in our planning and decisions."

Read abstracts from the conference (opens in a new window)

Find out more about WaterAid's work on Climate change and water resources