Senegal River Basin
Men from a Moor village walk across a small dam that was built to help retain rain water. Global warming and climate change have caused prolonged drought and erratic rainy seasons across the Sahel in recent years, contributing to food insecurity, poverty and human migration throughout the region. One of the problems with the disrupted cycles of rainy and dry seasons is that when the rains do fall, the precipitation rapidly runs off the parched landscape and very little is retained for crops or absorbed into the water table. Improved water management systems such as this dam help retain rain waters, increase seepage into the water table, improve agricultural yields and extend the planting season, allowing rural communities to better adopt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Seibath, Mali. 11/09/2010.
