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5.8 Cooperation in the Senegal River Basin: the Organisation for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS)

Course video 49 of 54

We have reached the final module. Module 5 is dedicated to the issues of conflict and cooperation associated with water resources. We will present the framework of hydro-hegemony with the aim of understanding transboundary interactions. This will be illustrated with the case of the Nile River Basin. Here we examine the relationship between Egypt (as the country furthest downstream) and the other riparian countries. The various institutional mechanisms for cooperation among states will be detailed. This will include an examination of how international river basins are managed using the Senegal River Development Organisation and the Mekong River Commission as case studies. The role of international water law in cooperation forms the final part of this module. The module is concluded by a quiz worth 20% of the final grade. You must have at least 80% of the responses correct to pass the module. We hope that this course has presented you with some interesting new perspectives and has encouraged you to want to explore the field of water management further. Thank you for participating!

Water management today is faced with new challenges such as climate change or the effects of human activity. Public and private stakeholders who are active in this field must develop new ways to better manage the water cycle "as a whole". The objective of this MOOC is to develop an understanding of the problems related to water management. Firstly, this course will define a resource and, more specifically, the resource of water. It will look at how water is used and the activities associated with it as well as any potential conflicts. The course will look at water management in detail through the analysis of the different types of rights and obligations associated with, for example, the development of a multi-sectorial regulation system or a watershed management approach. By the end of this course, our aim is to enable you to: 1) Identify the main issues and strategies linked to water resource management 2) Acquire the key reading material needed to understand the many variables (environmental, institutional and political) which affect water and which, in terms of management, may require adjustment. This course was developed by the Geneva Water Hub. Alongside researchers from the University of Geneva from a range of faculties, researchers from other universities and research centres will be involved in this course. Practitioners who deal daily with the political dimension of water management will also input into the course. This MOOC is designed for all those interested in the water sector. Prior training is not necessary to follow our program. The findings presented in this course can be easily reapplied to different contexts and to different scales of analysis. This MOOC is supported by the Geneva Water Hub and the University of Geneva along with the MOOC in « Ecosystem Services: a Method for Sustainable Development » (www.coursera.org/learn/ecosystem-services) and the one in "International Water Law" (www.coursera.org/learn/droit-eau). This course is funded by the Global Programme Water Initiatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). This course is also available in French : www.coursera.org/learn/gestion-eau

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Policy Analysis, International Law, International Relations, Law

教學方

Christian Bréthaut
Assistant Professor
Géraldine Pflieger
Professeure associée

腳本

[MUSIC] [MUSIC]

Well hello Olivier.

Thank you for accepting our invitation to participate in this section

which deals with cooperation in the the Senegal River Basin.

Could you start by introducing yourself for those who are following us?

>> I specialize in water resources management

and particularly in hydro-diplomacy

for the management of large international rivers.

Over the past 20 years, I have worked in

Africa and Asia, as an expert for major international organisations,

such as the World Bank, European Commission and the United Nations

without forgetting the Directorate for Swiss Cooperation and Development.

I am also a Professor Extraordinary at the Catholic University

of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium.

>> Okay, good.

The Senegal River Basin Development Authority (OMVS) is often cited as

a good example of transboundary water management.

Can you tell us the reasons behind why

it is considered to be an exemplary case?

>> Its exemplary character is mostly geopolitical, because the OMVS is

a good example, the only example that I know of in developing countries

where several countries sharing the same

international river

invest together in an integrated construction program

for several hydraulic and port infrastructures.

States are therefore the true owners of the infrastructure

and share both the costs and profits according to an allocation key.

Another feature of the OMVS basin authority is that it is not only

planner and adviser to these governments

but also operates its common infrastructures.

In other words, the authority produces electricity, manages water levels,

and carries out maintenance of the works, dams, dykes etc.

>> Okay. Can you tell us how these states

decided to organize themselves?

>> If the desire for integrated development of the Senegal

Basin and River dates back to the nineteenth century,

a first draft of the organisation itself dates back to the 1930s

when a mission of studies and planning of the Senegal River was created.

After decolonization, in 1963, the four riparian countries,

Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal

set up an inter-state committee. Five years later the

four states created an organisation known at the time as the

Senegal River Riparian States Organization.

Unfortunately, this initiative was paralyzed and eventually abandoned

due to political problems between Guinea and Senegal.

It is not until 1972 that three countries, Mali, Senegal

and Mauritania, without Guinea, decided to create the

Senegal River Basin Development Authority OMVS, as we still know it today.

And it is headquartered in Dakar.

So Guinea joined the organisation only much later,

in 2006.

The OMVS is responsible for more than 40 years of implementing

joint investment programs which includes several major projects.

The first is the anti-salt dam located 20 kilometres from the mouth of the river

on the border between Senegal and Mauritania. It was completed in 1986

with the objective of developing irrigation in order to reach 350 000

hectares in the valley and in the delta.

The second major project is the Manantali hydroelectric dam in

Mali, mainly in Mali, which was completed in 1988.

And finally an ambitious navigation project

comprising of two inland ports, among others.

>> So how does the organisation work in practice?

In each country there is a central national unit

and a national coordinating committee, a technical secretariat, common, joint,

based in Dakar. A High Commissioner is named according to a rotation

principle between countries and it is headed by a conference of

heads of state and a council of ministers which meets annually.

There are also advisory bodies, standing committees on water etc.

And water distribution methods between the countries and the approval of

new projects are governed by a water charter signed in 2002.

It is important to note that within the OMVS framework,

the exploitation of infrastructure was entrusted to three public companies.

The Society of Management of the Manantali Water or SOGEM, established

in 1997, the Society of Management and operation of Diama (SOGED)

also established in 1997, and more recently the SOGENAV,

to manage navigation, established in 2011.

>> Okay, so we see that the Senegal River has a very accomplished

institutional architecture when compared to other cases,

especially European cases such as the case of the Rhine

where a serious pollution of the river really

boosted cooperation among states.

What about Senegal? What are the "trigger points",

as they say in English, which encouraged cooperation between states?

>> As I have already pointed out

the creation of a common institution began a long time ago.

However, it was the drought of the late 1960s and early

1970s which accelerated the creation of the OMVS in 1972.

Please note that at the time it was much easier than today

for governments to borrow substantial financial resources from

the World Bank to build large dams, especially as

the fight against drought was a powerful argument

>> Ultimately,

what are the main issues that the organisation has helped to address?

>> If we want to summarize in a few words.

I would say that it has met the needs of development and the fight against

poverty in an area particularly affected by weather conditions.

So to date, there are two positive results to highlight.

Power generation (although it took 15 years to start after the

construction of the dam) and the production of fresh water,

both for agriculture and for domestic needs.

And in this respect, a really remarkable result was when

saltwater was prevented from entering the river by means of the Diama dam.

Before the construction of this dam,

saltwater could reach up to 300 kilometres inland.

This anti-salt dam enables

not only irrigation in the delta and the valley but also

supplies the whole city of Dakar, 250 kilometres further south.

However, there is still a long way to go.

Irrigation must continue to expand because the objective of 350 000 hectares

is far from being reached. The navigation development project

has taken substantial time to get off the ground and there is still

significant hydroelectric potential to be developed.

But the key, I believe, is to remember, that in the case of the Senegal River

investments are

based on good understanding and a common institution, and that,

finally this initiative has seen cooperation extend into

other sectors.

>> Thank you.

[MUSIC]

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