20 Does the Use of Local Knowledge in Complex Systems …
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potential impacts of the project at the local and regional levels and examines how its
(nexus) governance leads to changes in vulnerability.
At the national level, the first priority of the Fomi Dam Project is to provide local
households, markets, and the national mining industry with electricity. The significant
hydroelectric potential of 100 MW was the primary motivation for Guinean authorities to conceive the project. Furthermore, the water reservoir has the potential to
irrigate around 100,000 ha of agricultural land in Guinea, as well as to provide fishing
and fish-farming opportunities. The initiative would require, however, the displacement of an estimated 45,000 people, which unsurprisingly is the main concern of
local rural stakeholders who have long been aware of the project and associated with
various activities around its preparation. Recently, a new site seems to have gained
preference among the project’s managers and contractors: 15 km upstream, where
the population to be displaced is estimated to be only about 5,000.
The potential impact of the project is not limited to Guinea. The project regained
some regional interest in 2014, notably with the call to re-evaluate the possible
environmental and social impacts and discuss its shared costs and benefits among
NBA countries.
The Fomi Dam Project is noted among basin-scale planning projects by the NBA
for its potential to regulate the Niger’s discharge beyond significant seasonal variations, along with two other dam projects (the Taoussa Dam in Mali and the Kandadji
Dam in Niger). In a region that has a rainy season typically concentrated in a period of
only 3 months, the need to store water to optimize its use at the economic, social, and
environmental levels is significant. Regulating the discharge of Niger’s main watercourse would potentially allow expansion of irrigation and agricultural production,
thus improving the security and independence of food production in the region. The
NBA’s Sustainable Development Action Plan (in French Plan d’Action de Développement Durable) (Niger Basin Authority, 2008) estimates, for example, that the Fomi
Dam could provide for the development of about 10,000 ha that could be developed
as far away as the country of Niger. Discharge control throughout the year would
also allow for improved navigation and regional commerce to be developed on the
river.
The dam project has been validated by all stakeholders, including basin users. But
the magnitude of the basin and of the number of communities affected mean that any
proper consultation is ambitious and extremely costly. On a political and regional
integration level, the project falls under the mandate of the NBA, but raises important
questions for all impacted riparian countries—for example, who would determine
policy for water retention and release, and the general regime functioning of the dam.
There are many stakeholders associated with the project and they span a variety of
geographies, including local, national, and basin/regional. In the recent consideration
of social and economic impacts of the dam, certain stakeholders have felt consistently
alienated, particularly when focus is on local impacts to the exclusion of regional
stakeholders (interviews with stakeholders in Mali and Niger). Mali and Guinea
have established a joint inter-ministerial consultation group; nonetheless, Mali has
complained about not having access to the most up-to-date information about the
planning of the dam (36th Ordinary Session of the NBA Council of Ministers 2018).
475
potential impacts of the project at the local and regional levels and examines how its
(nexus) governance leads to changes in vulnerability.
At the national level, the first priority of the Fomi Dam Project is to provide local
households, markets, and the national mining industry with electricity. The significant
hydroelectric potential of 100 MW was the primary motivation for Guinean authorities to conceive the project. Furthermore, the water reservoir has the potential to
irrigate around 100,000 ha of agricultural land in Guinea, as well as to provide fishing
and fish-farming opportunities. The initiative would require, however, the displacement of an estimated 45,000 people, which unsurprisingly is the main concern of
local rural stakeholders who have long been aware of the project and associated with
various activities around its preparation. Recently, a new site seems to have gained
preference among the project’s managers and contractors: 15 km upstream, where
the population to be displaced is estimated to be only about 5,000.
The potential impact of the project is not limited to Guinea. The project regained
some regional interest in 2014, notably with the call to re-evaluate the possible
environmental and social impacts and discuss its shared costs and benefits among
NBA countries.
The Fomi Dam Project is noted among basin-scale planning projects by the NBA
for its potential to regulate the Niger’s discharge beyond significant seasonal variations, along with two other dam projects (the Taoussa Dam in Mali and the Kandadji
Dam in Niger). In a region that has a rainy season typically concentrated in a period of
only 3 months, the need to store water to optimize its use at the economic, social, and
environmental levels is significant. Regulating the discharge of Niger’s main watercourse would potentially allow expansion of irrigation and agricultural production,
thus improving the security and independence of food production in the region. The
NBA’s Sustainable Development Action Plan (in French Plan d’Action de Développement Durable) (Niger Basin Authority, 2008) estimates, for example, that the Fomi
Dam could provide for the development of about 10,000 ha that could be developed
as far away as the country of Niger. Discharge control throughout the year would
also allow for improved navigation and regional commerce to be developed on the
river.
The dam project has been validated by all stakeholders, including basin users. But
the magnitude of the basin and of the number of communities affected mean that any
proper consultation is ambitious and extremely costly. On a political and regional
integration level, the project falls under the mandate of the NBA, but raises important
questions for all impacted riparian countries—for example, who would determine
policy for water retention and release, and the general regime functioning of the dam.
There are many stakeholders associated with the project and they span a variety of
geographies, including local, national, and basin/regional. In the recent consideration
of social and economic impacts of the dam, certain stakeholders have felt consistently
alienated, particularly when focus is on local impacts to the exclusion of regional
stakeholders (interviews with stakeholders in Mali and Niger). Mali and Guinea
have established a joint inter-ministerial consultation group; nonetheless, Mali has
complained about not having access to the most up-to-date information about the
planning of the dam (36th Ordinary Session of the NBA Council of Ministers 2018).