Page 33 - CIWA-AR24

Introduction Protecting groundwater from depletion in the SMAB
Introduction

For example, he says that some people Bojang says he is grateful for CIWA’s
place impermeable materials such as support to assess the capacity of
concrete tiles on the ground in public member states and the two RBOs for
spaces such as family compounds, managing the SMAB and to develop the
which prevents rainfall from recharging institutional framework for aquifer We cannot afford to lose
groundwater. management. this groundwater to

“We need public sensitization, laws, “We are so excited to have this support pollution or to
regulations, and institutional capacity to from the World Bank so that we can
be able to manage and govern the improve groundwater management and overexploitation. We need
groundwater,” he says. sustainability,” Bojang says. “It is our future to stop the depletion of
and the future of generations to come.
A “game-changer We cannot afford to lose this groundwater this aquifer. With World
to pollution or to overexploitation. We Bank support, it’s a game
for the region”
need to stop the depletion of this aquifer.
For the last four years, Bojang has been a With World Bank support, it’s a game changer for the region.
member of the RWG focused on achieving changer for the region.”
a SMAB cooperation agreement signed by
all four countries. The RWG is housed at the
SMAB Secretariat that was created by the
two regional RBOs—OMVS, which includes
Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, and Senegal, and
the OMVG, which includes The Gambia,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal. The
Sahara and Sahel Observatory is also an
RWG member, while Guinea and Mali have
observer status.
Bojang says the RWG has accomplished a
lot, including the production of knowledge
reports about the recharge extent of the
aquifer; reviews of different aquifer
management systems; and examinations
of institutional capacity, data availability,
and data sharing protocols.

Not surprisingly, cooperation has not
always come easily. It took some time, for
example, for basin countries to agree on
the staffing of the Secretariat. “Everyone
wanted a fair share of the benefits of the
cooperation—this is human nature,” he
says. But the RWG persevered and the high
commissioners of the two RBOs signed an
operating protocol in October 2023.

In addition to CIWA, the work of the RWG
has been facilitated by the Geneva Water
Hub, the Secretariat of the Water
Convention serviced by the Economic
Commission of the United Nations for
Europe, and the International Groundwater
Resources Assessment Center. The
European Union, the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation, the United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the
Italian Agency for Development
Cooperation, and UNESCO are also
financing projects.

Landing Bojang collecting and monitoring 28
water data in the SMAB. ©Landing Bojang