The return of the water - IUCN

Strengthening management and planning
Managers need to be adequately informed in order to make appropriate decisions. A major problem
in many basins in sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of effective hydrometric networks, while at the
same time huge investments are made in infrastructure for irrigation (which, according to World
Bank statistics, sometimes exceed a capital investment of 15,000 per hectare). Management and
planning capacities are strengthened by:
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Towards Sustainability
• Up-grading data collection.
Given that in the past, collection of hydrological data in the area has been inadequate (and
to a large extent continues to be so), the hydrometric network on the Logone River should
be maintained or rehabilitated, and the relevant hydrological data collected, managed in
appropriate databases and analysed. To expand further the area under flooding, and to allow
for proper development planning, suitable topographic maps should be made available.
Ground-based information needs to be complemented by data from remote sensing by aircraft
and satellite, so that data from particular sites can be scaled up to the size of the Waza Logone
floodplain. This will enable detailed maps to be made of, for example, the extent, volume
and depth of floodwater and resulting vegetation patterns. This information will provide the
basis for sound planning and management of the area.
• Strengthening hydrological management.
There is great potential for intensifying the land use in the Waza Logone floodplain through
the implementation of relatively low-level irrigation projects. Such projects can produce
over five times more per hectare, and infinitely more per unit of water used, than the formal
irrigation schemes (Barbier, 1993). There is also scope for traditional floating rice or sorghum
cultivation in flood-prone areas, support towards traditional flood-recession agriculture, and
implementation of sustainable small-scale fisheries activities.
Given the fact that the Maga reservoir is grossly oversized, the floodplain could sustain
much larger floods than those currently implemented through the openings made in the
Logone River levees. This would ensure maximum spread of available water over the largest
possible area. However, apart from widening existing breaks in these levees, more water
could only be made available through the rehabilitated sluice-gates on the Vrick channel
(see Chapter 10), to ensure that managed flood releases would coincide with high in-flows
from the Logone River. Such a strategy would provide for a more equitable distribution of
water resources over a large area, by providing more water each year, and would result in a
larger flow of water into the Waza National Park.
The project has carried out initial studies indicating that the provision of additional, artificial,
sustained flooding through restoration of the main sluice gate on the dam and the Vrick
channel would be both feasible and cost-effective in the long term.
• Designing communal and village management plans.
Clearly, pilot releases implemented from 1994 onwards have brought significant benefits to
both floodplain communities and wildlife. They have also triggered a regional process of
immigration (Pires, 1998; Scholte, 2003) whose impact upon natural resources could be
both important and insoluble, if people continue to move onto the restored floodplain. This
phenomenon is poorly documented, and research must be carried out to gain a better
understanding of the likely impact of an increased population upon limited water resources
and upon wildlife, especially the wild animals that live in and around the Waza National
Park. Immigration could have highly detrimental impacts upon biodiversity in the floodplain
and beyond.