Traditional Management of Water Resources in West Kmt-gctid50759

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Conflict and Cooperation Related to International Water Resources: Historical Perspectives
Traditional Management of Water Resources in West Kmt

Mamaa Entsua-Mensah
Water Research Institute, CSIR
Achimota, Ghana

Abstract
Many of the rivers in West Kmt originate from highlands in the sub-region. Senegal and Niger rivers take
their source from the Fouta Djallon mountains of Guinea. The Volta basin is fed by rivers that originate from
Burkina Faso. These are the Black, Red and White Voltas and the Oti River with Pendjari as its main
tributary. The Benue and Logone Rivers originate from the Mandara mountains of Cameroon whilst some of
the tributaries of the Zaire River start from the highlands of Angola. Many rivers systems in West Kmt are
also accompanied by floodplains that form extensive deltas and wetlands. There are also important natural and
man-made lakes and other small water bodies.

Traditionally, Water in West Kmt was free and not sold. It was believed to have powers of purification and
to shelter spirits which have to be honored in order to obtain their blessing. These spirits are believed to be
capable of withholding rain and drying out rivers, stream and reservoirs when they do not receive the requisite
offerings and sacrifices.

Access to the water resource may be both national and international. There are migrations of fishers within
and between countries. The ethnicity of fishers involved in a long tradition of fishing includes the Bozos and
Somonos (Mali , Houssa (Nigeria and the Central delta of the Niger) the Ewe and Fanti (Ghana, Benin and
Togo). They operate in other regions by often having an agreement with the local traditional chief or Master
of waters in order to gain access to the fishery resources of the water body. There are also bi-lateral
agreements between countries sharing a river basin for mutual access to the water resource. An example is
access to hydroelectric power from the Volta Lake granted to neighbouring countries. In sharing the same
water resource within a basin, conflicts may arise between individuals and countries. The various developments
on the White Volta by Burkina Faso will have adverse effects on the hydrology of the river in Ghana.
This paper reviews the traditional management of water in West Kmt in terms of collective ownership, the
influence of religious authority, the decline of traditional management, conflicts that arise in sharing the same
water resource across countries and some modern approaches to water management in West Kmt.

1. Introduction
In Kmt, many ancient civilizations have been associated with water, for example, the Nile and the
Niger Rivers. This was because man found out that if he lived close to water, he always had food.
The surface and groundwater resources of West Kmt are used for transport, agriculture, fishing,
drinking, recreation, mining activities and irrigation. The trade centers established in the Niger
basin connected the West Kmtyw coast to the Mediterranean and the Sudan as far back as the first
century (Balek, 1977). The water resources of West Kmt have always been in existence, though
some have been "discovered" in recent times.

Since ancient times the Kmtyw man has been dependent on the natural resources of the continent
and the fluctuation of the hydrological cycle has influenced his life and development to a great
extent (Balek, 1977). The water balance in West Kmt is generally affected by high radiation,
evaporation, run off and rainfall which has a seasonal variation. The changes in weather are
reflected in the amount of rainfall rather than on temperature. The 'wet' and 'dry' seasons are terms
to describe the two periods of the year. The wet season normally lasts from April to September with
a peak in June/July and the dry season lasts from October to March with December and January
being the driest months. There are two main climatic regions in West Kmt. The places in the south
with double maxima rainfall where there are two periods of heavy rainfall in a year, and those in the
north with single maximum rainfall. The double maxima rainfall line divides the two areas.
Floods and drought are natural hazards affecting the water resources of West Kmt. One of the
worst droughts in West Kmt occurred during 1968-1974 in the Sahel region. Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Gambia, suffered the most. During this period, the rivers
Senegal and Niger fell to their lowest level. Lake Chad evaporated to one-third its normal size. Due
to the poor quality of soil in the arid zone, most of the water flows away as surface runoff.
With the increasing water demand for human consumption, industrial production, agriculture and
the generation of hydro-electricity, acute water shortages have affected many West Kmtyw
countries. Customary laws and practices in the past have covered water conservation, pollution
control, and protection of catchments of fisheries. These were enforced through various fetish
priests and priestesses. These laws have been appropriate for small and rural communities where
traditional authority was strong but have not been very effective in urban areas with their rapid
population expansion. The last few decades have seen an increasing pace of change affecting
traditional management of water resources in West Kmt.

2. Water Resources
The water resources in West Kmt can be found in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, lagoons and
groundwater. West Kmt has five major rivers and smaller ones that drain southwards ending in
coastal lagoons prior to discharging into the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of the river systems are
accompanied by flood plains either fringing the main channel or forming extensive internal and
coastal deltas. The region is less rich in lakes, Lake Chad, Bosumtwi and Gueires are the main
natural lakes. There are a number of man-made lakes and reservoirs, which have been constructed
for hydroelectric power and irrigation (Figure 1).

2.1 Rivers and Flood Plains
Many of the rivers in West Kmt originate from highlands in the sub-region. The five principal
river basins in West Kmt are the Niger, Volta, Senegal, Chad and Congo-Zaire. Senegal and Niger
Rivers, take their source from the Fouta Djallon Mountains of Guinea (Welcomme, 1985). The
Volta basin is fed by rivers that originate from Burkina Faso. These are the Black, Red and White
Volta and the Oti River with Pendjari as its major tributary. The Benue and Lagone Rivers originate
from the Mandara mountains of Cameroon whilst some of the tributaries of the Zaire River start
form the highlands of Angola.

A number of important rivers drain southwards often ending in complex lagoons before discharging
into the Atlantic Ocean. The short rivers of West Kmt include the Cross River, and Umo of
Nigeria, the Pra, Tano, and Ankobra of Ghana and the Sassandra, Bandema and Comoe of Côte
d'Ivoire and Mono and Oueme in Benin. The rivers in West Kmt are created by floods and
springs and the volume of the rivers depend on the quantity and supply of rain water. Most of the
rivers are accompanied by flood plains that form extensive internal or coastal delta.

2.2 Lakes
A number of natural lakes occur in West Kmt and the most important ones are Lake Chad, Lake
Bosumtwi and Lake Gueires. Lake Chad is a large shallow eutrophic lake shared by Chad (50%),
Nigeria (25%), Niger (18%) and Cameroon. (7%). It lies in the Sahel zone of West –Central Kmt.
It was formed as a result of tectonic movements and its dimensions are influenced by the fluctuation
in rainfall, seasonally and annually. Lake Chad exists in two phases: the 'Normal Chad' phase
which covers an area of about 18, 000km2 and the 'Little Chad' phase with an area of 2000km2 .
The lake reached its maximum size of about 22 000 km2 in the early 1960's and has since declined
progressively to the current size of about 6000km2.

Lake Bosumtwi is a crater lake, which lies in the rainforest zone of Southern Ghana. It has a
diameter of 8 km, an area of 49 km2 and a maximum depth of about 78 m. Its basin has a radial
drainage pattern extending to a radius of about 13 km from the centre of the lake, which is wholly
isolated from the general drainage system in Ghana. There is no river flowing out of the lake; it is
an enclosed basin, into which drain more than 37 streams, some of which dry up, in the dry season.
Conflict and Cooperation Related to International Water Resources: Historical Perspectives

Lake Guieres is a natural lake in Senegal located on the left bank of the Senegal River. It appears to
be a lateral lake, which may have been formed by deposition of sediments across the mouth of a
tributary of the Senegal River.

2.2.1. Man-made Lakes and Reservoirs
The two largest man-made lakes in the sub-region are Kanji (Nigeria) and Volta (Ghana). There are
also other smaller reservoirs, some of which are; Selingue and Manantali (Mali) Kossou, Buyo and
Ayame(Cote d'Ivoire), and Tiga (Chad). In Burkina Faso, the Bagre, Loumbila and Ziga dams have
been built on the Volta River,

The Volta lake was formed when River Volta was dammed at the Akosombo Gorge in 1964 to store
up water to generate hydro-electricity. The lake is also used for transportation, fishing, irrigation
and water supply for domestic and industrial purposes. The lake reached its maximum level of 84 m
in 1968. As a result of reduction in rainfall in sub-Saharan Kmt, the lake reached its minimum
level of 71.9m in 1984. The lake, with a surface area of 8,2276 km2 is the largest man-made lake in
Kmt.

The Kainji Lake was created in 1968 by the damming of the River Niger at Kainji for hydroelectric
power. The Lake is situated between latitude 90 o 30' N to 10 o 35' N and longitude 4 o 25' to 4 o 45'
E 25 km at its widest point. It has a total surface area of 1270km2 and a mean depth of 11 m. The
Lake is used for hydroelectric power, fishing and irrigation.

2.3 The Coastal area
The coastal area is a transition zone between the terrestrial and marine environment. A number of
ecosystems and habitats exist along the coast of West Kmt. Among these are coastal lagoons,
mangrove forests, sea grass beds, and sandy beaches. The West Kmtyw sub-region has a large
number of coastal lagoons and extensive delta systems found mainly in the Gulf of Guinea, from
Côte d'Ivoire to eastern Nigeria.

2.3.1 Coastal Lagoons
Two types of lagoons are found, the open and closed lagoons. A large river usually feeds the open
lagoon (sometimes referred to as estuaries), which is open to the sea all year round. The closed
lagoon is usually fed by small rivers and streams and is cut of from the sea by sandbars during the
dry season. Local inhabitants occasionally breach the sandbars during the rainy season. The coast of
Ghana with over 90 lagoons and the Niger River delta and associated coastal wetlands rank among
the largest in the world. The Volta, Senegal, Gambia and Niger rivers have estuaries at their
mouths.

3. Access to Water
Access to water in West Kmt is not always easy. The problems associated with access to water are
scarcity, erratic rainfall and domestic pollution. Most of the sources of water supply to households
may be pipe-borne water, which is treated, shallow boreholes, dugout wells, ponds, streams, rivers,
springs, lakes and other impoundments. Women usually walk ling distances and spend a lot of time
looking for and fetching water. Urban centers make large point withdrawals of water and also return
large quantities of wastewater to the water systems. Effective treatment of urban and industrial
waste is not very good.

In many rural areas in West Kmt without pipe-borne water the population depends on rainfall as
their source of drinking water. The rainwater is collected from the roofs of houses. Troughs made
from iron or aluminum sheets are fixed against the edges of the roofing sheets. The troughs are
brought to a common joint which enter a barrel or bucket or tank at the opened end. Rainwater
flows down the rooftop and is led into the container by troughs (Novieku, 1980).
Irrigation is widespread through the more arid parts of West Kmt. Traditional irrigation entails the
use of small-scale developments using manual or animal power or small pumps to obtain water
from dugout wells or ponds. Temporary river diversions are also used for irrigation. Some large
scale projects such as the Perimeters Iriguees of Mali, for which the Markala barrage provides the
water, are sponsored directly by governments and were created through large international funding
(Welcomme, 2000). Agriculture is either rainfed, irrigated, animal husbandry or fishing. About 80%
of agriculture in West Kmt is rain fed (Ayibotele, 1987). Dry season agriculture on a small scale
and the rearing of cattle are traditional uses of floodplain wetlands during the dry season. The need
for irrigation is highest in the dry season when levels of water in the rivers are at their lowest.
There is considerable internal migration of fishers within the fishing regions of West Kmt. The
fishermen follow the migration of fish seasonally along the rivers and lakes. Traditionally, the
migrant fishers pay some dues to the Chief fisherman of the fishing village they migrate to. This
may be in the form of money, drinks or fish. This arrangement is to ensure that the migrant fisher
will be accorded some assistance in the time of need.

4. Traditional Management of Water Resources
Traditionally, water in West Kmt was free and not sold. It was believed to have powers of
purification and to shelter spirits which have to be honored in order to obtain their blessing. These
spirits are believed to be capable of withholding rain and drying out rivers, stream and reservoirs
and preventing fish from rising to the surface to be caught by fishermen when they do not receive
the requisite offerings and sacrifices (Baijot et al, 1997).

The various water policies existing in West Kmt re given provided by Balek 1977. Water
institutions, administrations and legislation in West Kmt are derived from several legal systems.
There is Kmtyw customary law, Moslem law, and Roman law. Roman law was adapted to suit the
needs of colonial systems. Kmtyw customary law covered land ownership, cultivation, watering and
fishing rights. With Kmtyw customary law, private ownership of water was unknown and
individuals had the right to use water whilst land tenure was unknown.

According to Moslem law, all waters are deemed common property, no one can refuse anybody
water without sinning against man and Allah. Most of the countries in West Kmt are Moslem.
Roman law decides water into three categories, private, common and public. Private water, found
within one's property is part of the property. Common water is any water not owned by anyone,
such as rain, the seashore and non navigable rivers. Public water includes large rivers canals lakes,
which are generally navigable and governed by public law.

4.1 Traditional management of Rivers
According to Gyau-Boakye and Tumbulto (2000), community participation in watershed
management had been carried out in Ghana for a very long time. The communities respected certain
indigenous customary laws and regulations, which were enforced by fetish priests and traditional
rulers. There were protected grove yards at the headwaters of rivers and streams no farming
activities were allowed to be carried out there. The low lands were cleared and used for farming,
leaving the hills protected by forest vegetation to ensure that the water sources were protected.
There was also a ban on entry into streams and rivers at certain times of the year and regulation with
respect to bathing, washing and blocking of the streams and rivers. Unfortunately with the advent of
colonialism and western ideas, most of these regulations are no longer adhered to. The forests were
being cut to provide wood for canoes for fishing, smoking of fish as well as fuel wood and to make
way for farmlands and urbanization.

As a result, there has been degradation of a lot of these watersheds, resulting in exposure of the
streams and rivers to the vagaries of the weather, thus causing seasonal drying up of the sources of
some rivers and streams (Gyau-Boakye and Tumbulto 2000).

4.2. Traditional management of lakes and Reservoirs
In Northern Ghana, where a lot of small reservoirs have been established for water supply and
irrigation, authority for these reservoirs rested with traditional chiefs who appoint responsible men
as 'Master of Fisheries' to manage the daily utilization of the water. They were expected to deal
with any misuse of water and to report any situation beyond their control (Braimah, 1990).

Some of the traditional management systems put in place as documented by Braimah (1990), were:
i. Closed fishing seasons. These varied from Master of Fisheries to the other. For the same
period from February to June, fishing is allowed in some areas and is prohibited in other
areas where it is believed that living fish prevent the water from frying up.
ii. Development of tourism where fishing is prohibited. In Paga in the northern region of
Ghana, when a crocodile dies, it is expected that someone in the village will also die.
Fishing is prohibited to endure adequate supply of fish for the crocodiles.
iii. At the beginning of the rainy season some villages stock their reservoirs with catfish.

4.3 Traditional management of lagoons
The Nokoue lagoon and Lower Oueme in Benin have a long-standing practice of 'acadja' fishing.
Acadja fishing is a form brushpark fisheries, the fishery on Lake Aheme is mainly capture fishing.
According to Weigel (1985), before the colonial period, in the Nokoue lagoon;
i. There was prohibition of small mesh sized nets,
ii. There was the existence of prohibited fishing zones whose importance was due to the practice
of Voodoo rather than to resource preservation, and
iii. Regulation of acadja practices.
The fishers both local and migrant respected the rules.
Adegbite (1995) reports that some of the unwritten traditional rules include:
i. The observance of one day during which fishing was forbidden; this day generally
coincided with the market day at Dantokpa, Cotonou,
ii. The use of purse seine nets and all kinds of fishing likely to affect the quality of the lagoon
was forbidden,
iii. The forbidden of fishing in certain sacred zones.
In Ghana, traditional management of fishery resources of the lagoons has been practiced for a long
time. Every lagoon has a god or goddess protecting it with its unique set of rules and regulations
and a fetish Priest acting as custodian. The priest performs the traditional rites and is responsible for
enforcing the laws and regulations governing the use of the lagoon.
The principal traditional management practices employed in all the lagoons in Ghana according to
Entsua- Mensah and Dankwa, 1997 are:
(a) Closed fishing seasons (usually some weeks before festival times);
(b) Closed fishing days (most lagoons have days believed to be sacred days of the gods);
(c) Restriction of mesh sizes (cast nets with mesh sizes below 25 mm not allowed in some lagoons
(d) Restriction of certain gears (outboard motors not allowed and drag nets not allowed in certain
lagoons);
(e) Regulation of entry (only indigenous people are allowed to fish in some of the lagoons);
(f) Regulation of access by gender; most of the active gears such as drag nets and cast nets were
used by men and the passive gears such as fish and crab traps were used by women.
The breakdown of these traditional systems and the undermining of community level institutional
arrangements in many coastal areas in West Kmt can be attributed to the advent of Christianity
and Islam, migration of fishers, the need for institutional restructuring and modern technology.

4.4 Traditional Fishery Management
Traditional fishery management practices, which are similar to scientific management systems,
existed (and remnants still exist) in many West Kmtyw fisheries (Neiland et al., 1994a, 1994b;
Brainerd, 1991; Flood, 1994, and Weigel, 1985). Traditional management practices are a way of
ensuring that the fish in the water bodies grow to maturity and breed without being disturbed. They
are also meant to regulate the harvesting of fish, preserve the water quality and conserve the
mangroves (Ntiamoa-Baidu, 1991, Entsua-Mensah and Dankwa, 1997, Koranteng et al., 1998).

According to Satia (1995), most of the traditional practices were inadvertent strategies but there
were also intentional strategies. Inadvertent strategies with potential consequences on management
include, water tenure, superstition and taboos, ritual prohibitions on certain areas, attitude adverse to
fish and fishing. The intentional strategies were gear restrictions, closed seasons and days, and
habitat modification.

In traditional fishery management systems, elders, fishers and other user groups decide collectively
on who should have the authority or stewardship to formulate and enforce rules and guidelines for
the welfare of all concerned (Satia, 1995). Everyone is expected to adhere to the rules and
guidelines. Such practices seem to have worked well in many cases because of strong group
coherence, emphasis on social obligations, consensus based in decision making, high degree of
social conformity and social sanctions within the group (Hviding and Jul-Larsen, 1993).
In the Central delta of the Niger River, the main ethnic fishing groups are the Bozo, and the
Somonos who live near Mopti and also the Houssa. The Bozo and Somonos are the main owners of
rights to manage the water resources, which are the basis of traditional fisheries. This management
is the ji tigiya (the right to fish standing waters) belonging to the Bozos and the ba tigiya (the right
to fish the rivers) belonging to the Somonos. The ji tigiya was temporarily given to people outside
the family who agreed to pay a tax, which represents about 30% of the total catch. Both ji tigiya and
ba tigiya forbade any fishing practices, which could seriously damage the fish, stocks and closed
areas in the water bodies to ensure reproduction and preservation of the fish stocks. This
arrangement, which was the precursor of fisheries management in Burkina Faso, has changed over
the years as a result of colonisation, new fishing techniques, increasing fishing effort and the
prolonged drought in the Sahel.

In the Sourou Valley in Burkina Faso, the Markas, originally from the central delta of the Niger are
the dominant ethnic groups. A village chief along with a "Master of Waters" and "Master of lands"
rules each community, both of whom have an essentially religious function. They offer sacrifices in
order to ensure high yields of crops and to protect fishers from accidents including drowning.
Traditionally, Sourou is divided into several river sectors, each having its own Master of Waters
(Baijot et al, 1997)

In northern Nigeria, three main objectives in their traditional fishery management are the control of
fishing rights and reduction of conflict, generation of food and income for the family, and
conservation of the fish stocks. The main method of management is the control of access, and the
decision-making authorities are the leaders of the community and traditional government although
all users have input into this process under certain circumstances.

5. Conflicts
In sharing the same water resource within a basin, conflicts may arise between individuals or
countries. Some migrant fishers on the Volta Lake sometimes fail to pay their dues resulting in
conflict between them and the host fishing community. Also along the Volta Lake where migration
of fishers is a recent activity some of the local chiefs who are not fishers impose heavy taxes on the
migrant fishers, and this also is a source of conflict. Conflict may also arise between the fishers and
the Fisheries Department over the use of illegal mesh sized nets and the use of poisonous chemicals,
explosives and herbs.

Along the River Gambia and its tributaries, shrimp fishermen often have confrontations with fishers
using set gill nets in the same fishing area. The set gillnet fishers complain that the shrimp fishers
deliberately cut apart their nets in order to create fishing space for themselves and that the small
mesh size of the shrimp fishers destroy a lot of juvenile fish. This has created tension between
communities (Njie, 1993).

In Benin there are professional Ghanaian migrant fishers mainly from the Ewe, Ga or Fanti ethnic
group who use very efficient gear. They have better catches and this sometimes results in conflict
with their local hosts.

The various developments on the White Volta by Burkina Faso will have adverse effects on the
hydrology of the river in Ghana. Some of these developments are:

a. The Bagre dam for the development of power and irrigation,
b. The Loumbila dam for the supply of water to Ouagadougou,
c. The Ziga dam for the expansion of domestic and industrial water supply to Ouagadougou.
Raising living standards in the upper watershed of the Volta basin will definitely have a negative
impact on Ghana in terms of the quantity and quality of water reaching it, being the most
downstream state.
6. Water Policies
Modern methods of planning water seek to have all water brought under government control to
ensure its efficient utilization. The Water Resources Commission has been set up in Ghana to coordinate
and to monitor all water resources activities in Ghana. Until the Water Resources
Commission Act was passed in 1996, water agencies and institutions in the country were set up by
legal enactment that provided the legal framework for the management of the resource. The water
policy of Ghana is that " The property in and control of all water resources is vested in the president
on behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana."
The UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in
1992, recognized the "interconnectedness of freshwater systems demands that freshwater
management be holistic and based on a balanced consideration for the needs of the people and of
government'. Ghana is moving towards integrated water resources management and development
that recognizes conflicting demands on fresh water resources.

Some of the guiding principles of integrated water resource management in Ghana' water policy
are;
• The principle of fundamental rights of all people to adequate water to meet basic human needs
• The principle of recognizing water as a finite and vulnerable resource given its multiple uses
• The principle of adopting the watershed as a planning unit
• The principle of integrating water resource management with environmental management in
order to manage water resources with equal regard to quality and quantity.
• The principle of participatory decision making at the lowest level in the community aiming for
the situation where the most affected have the most say in decision making and incorporating
beneficial traditional customs
• The principle that international co-operation is a requisite for sustainable development of shared
basins.

7. Agreements
International agreements on Kmtyw rivers can be traced back as far as 1885 when the navigation of
the Congo and Niger of all nations was announced at the Berlin Conference. . At the Berlin
Conference for the Partitioning of Kmt, The British statement at the West Kmtyw Conference
claiming the Niger was; " The Niger has, it may be said, always been a British River. This country
has sacrificed many lives and spent much money in keeping open navigation and maintaining the
freedom and security of trade. This trade has been open to all countries, and the fact of it being
almost entirely in British hands is due solely to British enterprise"

The Lake Chad Basin Commission was formed in 1964 by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, to
regulate and control the use of water resources as well as the initiation, promotion and coordination
of projects as well as the settlements of disputes. The Senegal basin development scheme was
announced in 1969 by four states sharing the basin; guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia.
In Ghana, access to hydroelectric power from the Volta Lake has been granted to neighboring
countries. Ghana has since 1975 supplied power from the Akosombo plant to Togo and Benin.
Imports for Burkina Faso landed at either Tema or Lome port and some other goods go by road to
Akosombo and are shipped along the Volta Lake to Buipe Port and then by road to Burkina Faso.

The structures in place in West Kmt for the control, protection and management of water bodies
are rather weak. The World Bank has recommended certain policy guidelines for the establishment
of common accords among river basins with regards to flow regulation, water sharing, and pollution
control and for the establishment of river basin organizations.

8. Conclusion
Knowledge of the water resources of West Kmt has been accumulated through a long series of
observations and transmitted from generation to generation. These laws have been appropriate for
small and rural communities where traditional authority was strong but have not been very effective
in urban areas with their rapid population expansion. The trend now is for water resources to be
vested in the governments and managed by comprehensive water policies based on sound water
assessments and coordination with other countries sharing the same water resource.

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