Abstract
The droughts of the 1970s intensified in the 1980s and the development of irrigation schemes upstream of the Inner Niger Delta in Mali (IND) have resulted in the degradation of natural resources. This degradation of natural resources associated with the increasing population pressure on the environment has led to a more conflictive management of these resources. In addition, the current operating system of resources and the hydrological functioning of the IND make the management of the ecosystem more complex.In this work, we adopt an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to address the IND resource management issues. The approach mobilizes hydrology, sociology, agronomy and economy.The analysis of hydrological data has highlighted a significant difference between the maximum passing dates of the two rivers that supply the IND. This difference impacts the schedules of the main production systems thus contributing to exacerbate conflict. The management strategies developed with stakeholders combine the practices of security and water control, intensification, resource regeneration, capacity building and economic incentives. Moreover, in a context of increased climate variability, we analyzed the perceptions of a sample of fishermen, herders and farmers on climate prediction and their interest of climate and flood forecasts.. It appears that the need for climate information of floodplain users as IND relate mainly to the onset date of rainy season, flood maximum passaging date, the arrival of floods and flood peak heights.The simulated economic value of climate information for an agrarian system of flooded rice obtains an average gain of 10%. As against the cost of possible prediction errors is particularly high for producers with an average deficit on income of 24%.