The World Bank Board of Directors Thursday agreed that the Bank will manage the implementation of the Niger River Basin Water and Environmental Management Project with a 13 million US dollar grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).
The projects objective is to strengthen capacities at all levels – local, municipal, national, regional and institutional – within the nine member countries of the Niger Basin Authority (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote dIvoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria) – in the implementation of a joint framework for the sustainable development of the land and water resources of the basin.
– This project is an important milestone for the Niger Basin Authority and the nine countries in the sense that it signals a break with the fruitless unilateral approaches adopted hitherto by individual governments and the embracing of a more promising “win-win” approach which calls for Basin-wide cooperation and action to advance shared vision and interests, said Ousmane Dione, the World Bank Team Task Leader for the project.
The project will enhance regional and cross-border cooperation in addressing priority water and environmental management issues linked to the shared resources of the basin in a manner that provides substantial benefits to local communities.
While the Niger Basin Authority based in Niamey (Niger) has been designated by its member States as the recipient of the grant and the lead executing agency, the bulk of project activities will be carried out in a decentralized manner, building on ongoing initiatives within the nine member countries of the Authority.
It will directly involve non-governmental organizations and a broad range of local grassroots communities and national stakeholders in the management of shared water and land resources of the basin.
Additional funding to cover the projects total cost of 42,64 million dollar will be provided by several development partners, including the African Development Bank, the Governments of France and of the Netherlands, the Niger Basin Authority and the nine African governments members of the Authority.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a mechanism for providing new and additional grant and concessional funding to meet the agreed incremental costs in achieving agreed global environmental benefits in the four focal areas – Climate change; Biological diversity; International waters; and Ozone layer depletion.
GEF also supports the work of the global agreements to combat desertification and eliminate persistent organic pollutants.
The World Bank Group is one of GEFs implementing agencies and supports countries in preparing GEF co-financed projects and supervises their implementation. It plays the primary role in ensuring the development and management of investment projects.
The Bank draws upon its investment experience in eligible countries to promote investment opportunities and to mobilize private sector, bilateral, multilateral, and other government and non-government sector resources that are consistent with GEF objectives and national sustainable development strategies.
Since 1991, the World Bank Group has committed 1,52 billion US dollar in GEF resources and 2,25 billion in Bank group co-financing for GEF projects in 80 countries. In addition to GEF and Bank resources, it has mobilized additional co-financing of 5,48 billion dollar from other donors.
For further information on Banks GEF program, visit www.worldbank.org/gef. For further information on GEF, visit www.gefweb.org. For more information on the World Banks work in Africa visit: www.worldbank.org/afr
