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The importance of small temporary wetlands in arid and semi-arid zones for local development, the case of Ferlo in Senegal

IWRA World Water Congress 2025 Marrakech Morocco
Water Governance, Financing, and Planning during Uncertainty
Author(s): Mahefa Mamy RAKOTOARISOA, Awa NIANG-FALL, Aude Nuscia TAIBI

Presenter: Madina BA (1,2) Authors: Mahefa Mamy RAKOTOARISOA (1,3), Awa NIANG-FALL (2), Aude Nuscia TAIBI (1,4)

1-Université d’Angers, ESO UMR CNRS 6590, France / 2-Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, UMI SOURCE 272 IRD, Sénégal / 3-Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France / 4-Institut Universitaire de France


Poster: PDF

Abstract

Small temporary wetlands (STWs) or ponds, are aquatic ecosystems found in a variety of environments, generally small and shallow, whose water resources vary considerably as they flood intermittently and dry up seasonally or sometimes for several years, often every year, and sometimes unpredictably (Calhoun et al., 2017). These little-studied and therefore little-known STWs (Acuña et al., 2014) nevertheless present major socio-ecological challenges in dry zones, particularly in the Sahel. Yet STWs are particularly in decline on both global and local scales.

The aim of this work is to study the STWs that crest the vast Ferlo plateaus in northwestern Senegal, a region where they fill up during the summer rains and then gradually dry out with the dry season. 4 sites from the south to the north of the Ferlo (Niakha, Loumbol Demakh, Thiudé Funangué and Koyli gotti) have been studied.