The Prefect of the region, Mr Yacouba DOUMBIA, highlighted the context for the establishment of this coordination body in the following terms: "Our country, like the five other riparian states of the basin, faces major environmental challenges: deforestation, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, increased droughts... all threats that call for coordinated and inclusive responses. In this context, the active participation of natural resource users – farmers, fishermen, herders, artisans, women, young people, businesses, communities – becomes an essential requirement for sustainable and legitimate governance." He also emphasised that the CNU will aim to make the voices of users heard, participate in the planning of field actions, foster national and regional dialogue, and contribute to the local ownership of the results of the REWarD project and, beyond that, of the Strategic Action Programme for the basin.
"Côte d'Ivoire hereby reaffirms its commitment to working towards the concerted and integrated management of its natural resources, in close collaboration with the other countries in the basin. This participatory process, led by the VBA and its partners, is fully consistent with our national policy on sustainable environmental management, our climate strategy, and the commitments made under the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals," he said in his speech read on behalf of the Minister of Water and Forests.
Mr DOUMBIA then praised the strong mobilisation of local actors, ministerial technical structures, decentralised services, local authorities and, above all, representatives of user organisations, as testimony to their attachment to the resource and their willingness to organise themselves to better protect it. This was confirmed by the representative of the mayor of Bouna, Mr OUATTARA Mohamed Junior, who, in his speech, pointed out that this basin is their living environment and that, as such, there is a shared responsibility for the preservation and safeguarding of its resources, which they share with other countries.
Mr Salifou DENE, representing the Executive Director of the VBA, said that "experience shows that sustainable management policies cannot succeed without the direct involvement of those who use these resources on a daily basis, derive their livelihoods from them and suffer the effects of environmental degradation. This is why the establishment of this National Coordination of Users (CNU) in Côte d'Ivoire is much more than a consultative mechanism. It is an essential link in the governance of the basin, on a par with national intersectoral committees, state structures and regional coordination bodies." Mr DENE reassured participants that the VBA Executive Directorate remains fully committed to providing the tools, benchmarks, forums for dialogue and technical support necessary for the operationalisation of the CNUs in each of the six countries of the basin.
After discussion, amendment and validation of the national report on user mapping and characterisation, the work plan and capacity building, the National User Coordination was established and its governing bodies put in place. A 14-member bureau was formed following consultations between users, who elected Mrs Faty DIABAGATE, President of the NGO KERASYIRE (Women Rise Up in the Lobbi language), as Chairperson of the Coordination. She called on the entire board to rally around her to achieve the basin's development objectives.
The REWaRD – Volta River Basin project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), aims to reverse the trends of natural resource and ecosystem degradation in the Volta Basin by promoting transboundary governance, integrated natural resource management and community resilience. As part of the implementation of its Component 2 on strengthening regional and national coordination, the project planned to carry out a mission to ‘establish and strengthen the capacities of national and regional coordination bodies for users of natural resources in the Volta Basin’. The project was developed in close collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Volta Basin Authority (VBA), and the Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) and national actors.
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