Beyond Borders: Addressing African Salinisation Challenges for a Resilient Future - Policy Brief

This policy brief presents our knowledge on impacts of and policy on salinity in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and The Gambia. After presenting causes of salinisation in chapter 1, the policy brief responds to three critical questions: (1) What is the state of the art on the problem of salinisation of groundwater and soils in sub-Saharan countries? (2) Which regions are most affected and what are current and future impacts of salinisation in affected regions? (3) How do international cooperative initiatives address the challenges associated with salinisation and how is the governance landscape of salinity structured in this region?

We find that salinity has been studied in several parts of the region. Groundwater salinity has often been addressed directly, whereas soil salinity is often discussed in the context of general soil degradation analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. Especially, the region of the Horn of Africa seems to be well analysed so far. Ethiopia, Senegal, and Mozambique have large surface areas of the salt-affected soils. On the contrary, for Burkina Faso and Sudan relatively low surface area is salinized. Mozambique lacks relevant policies even though the country is heavily affected by salinity. On more inland countries such as Mali, Chad, and South Sudan little information is available on salinisation so that the impact of salinity in these countries is hard to assess. We conclude that one of the major obstacles to estimating salinity distribution across the region is the differences in data availability and the lack of a comprehensive understanding of inland areas. Further, effects of salinity are mostly visible in the agricultural sector, but it also affects the economic development of the countries, the land use, migration patterns and biodiversity of land ecosystems. On the farm level, we observe lower yields, increasing unemployment, widening gender gaps and lack of opportunities for the youth.

Finally, multiple collaborative initiatives for salinity are active in the region. The majority of these initiatives focuses on operational activities such as pilots and practical trainings, information sharing and networking. The initiatives are mostly led by public-private and public actors, with a strong focus on food and water security and climate adaptation. Monitoring, reporting, and verification are rarely applied across the initiatives.

Building upon these findings, the policy brief offers the following forward-looking recommendations that can guide future policy making for future saline agriculture in this region:

• Allocate resources to conduct studies on groundwater and soil salinisation in sub-Saharan countries, where knowledge gaps currently exist.

• Establish systemic regional monitoring and evaluation programs aimed at developing and understanding salinisation patterns and impacts.

• Foster collaboration and information-sharing among sub-Saharan countries, particularly those countries experiencing high salinisation, such as countries with coastal areas and river deltas or countries with high arid salinisation.

• Encourage the adoption of saline agriculture practices as presented in chapter 1 as a viable adaptation strategy in affected regions by providing training and support for farmers and stimulate the Dutch knowledge institutions and private sector to share their expertise.

• Encourage governmental bodies to integrate the problem and formulate policies addressing salinisation in existing agriculture, water, and climate policies.

• Mobilise funds from international organisations, governmental bodies, and private sectors such as Green Climate Fund to bridge the gap between costs of salinisation and required investments.

• Involve more civil society and private actors in the initiatives to represent a wider range of stakeholders and variety of topics, including water, food and biodiversity nexus.

• Raise awareness about adverse effects of improper water management practices that can increase salinity in the future.

The project report, published alongside this policy brief, provides more detailed information on each of the focus countries.