Policy Brief n°5 - The Status of Common Facilities and Benefit Sharing in the Senegal and Niger River Basins

January 2016 - Tignino M., Sangbana K.

The Senegal River Development Organisation (Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) in French) and the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) have put into place specific regimes on the management and rational use of water resources. In order to concretize the concept of community of interests and right, both basin institutions have developed specific arrangements on the management of facilities and benefit sharing, taking into account the particularities of the two basins.

This Policy Brief makes a comparison between the two regimes with the aim of understanding the legal contours of the status of facilities and benefit sharing in the basins of the Senegal and Niger rivers. The salient features so identified contribute to strengthening the governance of transboundary water resources. The reflection is conducted on the basis of a legal scrutiny of the main instruments developed on these basins. This analysis is also based on the conclusions of a round table organized with experts on the Senegal and Niger basins (see the related News event).