Restoring the River Niger

The River Niger is the third longest river in Africa and this comes with high demands from raw water supply to agriculture and other livelihoods. This river located in West Africa passes through diverse climate regions on its way to the sea including areas prone to desertification; and although it is a transboundary river, much global interest is not placed on it; therefore much importance is not placed on preserving the nature and quality of the river. This paper incorporates information found on various databases in form of research conducted at strategic locations along the course of the river, from source to delta, and on its major tributaries. It uses this information as data to map man-made disturbances and its interaction with the environmental conditions along the course of the river. It outlines disturbances from the activities of the riparian community and the basin authority which contribute to contaminated tributaries from rural areas, wastewater disposal, heavy metal from catchment runoff, infrastructures and other restrictions on the river’s flow path, and their interaction with the hydrology and climatic factors. It finally offers considerations for mitigating these disturbances, with reference to and lessons learnt from the actions and action plans from other river governing and monitoring bodies such as the Nile Basin Initiative.