KickStarting Mali
Paul Butler, Rare SVP of Global Programs, and Dale Galvin, Rare COO, recently visited Mali to study the work of the nonprofit organization KickStart. This is Butler’s first report on their trip.
The fabled city of Timbuktu is not a myth – it does indeed exist – on the edge of the Sahara Desert. It is one of the poorest cities in one of the poorest countries on Earth – the Republic of Mali. The city and the country pretty much live up to their reputation as being at “the end of the world.” Bordering Algeria to the north, Niger to the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d’Ivoire to the south, Guinea to the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania to the west, Mali is nearly twice the size of Texas.
Rare’s COO, Dale Galvin, and I recently returned from the country where we met with conservation NGOs, local government officials, and representatives of KickStart. We found Mali to be a place of austere beauty, with some of the friendliest people we have ever met.
Mali is a country plagued by problems (desertification, deforestation, and water scarcity), yet it is also a place of enormous biodiversity. The first national park, Boucle de Baoulé, and seven faunal reserves were established during the 1950s in the south of the country, following promulgation of decrees during the French colonial rule. The three Ramsar sites, a biosphere reserve, and World Heritage site were established between 1982 and 1989.
One of Mali’s most important areas for biodiversity is the Inner Niger Delta, which is located in the semi-arid Sahelian zone, just south of the Sahara Desert. The huge dunes of the Erg Ouagadou funnel the waters of the inner delta north and east through Mali. For four months each year during the rainy season, floodwaters spill over the banks of the Niger and Bani Rivers, and the Inner Niger Delta swells to an area of about 20,000 square kilometers.
The swamps, lakes, and channels of the delta provide vital habitat for thousands of migratory birds as well as the endangered West African manatee. Approximately 500,000 Garganey (Anas querquedula) and up to 200,000 Pintail (Anas acuta) winter here, along with large numbers of Ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca), White-winged tern (Chlidonias leucopterus), ruff (Philomachus pugnax), black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) and other water birds. A notable non-wetland bird species is the endemic Mali firefinch (Lagonosticta virata), which is found only in Mali and largely confined to the delta area.
The delta is also an essential resource for Malians, supporting livelihoods in fishing, farming, and cattle-raising in an otherwise arid country. Harvest levels depend almost entirely on changes in climate and on floods of the Niger and its tributaries. In 1995, 73% of the working population was employed in agriculture and contributed 44% of the GDP. Most of the production is by small farmers engaged in subsistence farming. The main food crops include millet, rice, and sorghum. Drought in the 1970s and 1980s caused terrible suffering in Mali.
During the dry season, when agricultural productivity declines, people are forced to search for alternative incomes. For many this means clearing scarce trees and selling firewood and charcoal. Between 1990 and 2005, Mali lost 10.7% of its forest cover, or around 1,500,000 hectares.
One of the objectives of our visit was to see the work of KickStart and how a Rare Pride campaign might help increase the adoption of their cheap, efficient agricultural pumps. If we can increase the adoption of these pumps, people can extend the cultivation time and productivity of their plots, thereby reducing the need for alternative incomes. They can also use the pumps to cultivate fuel wood plots.
KickStart’s Super MoneyMaker Pressure Pump was launched in October 1998, in response to a demand by farmers for a pump that can push water uphill as well as simply pulling it up from the source. This means it is suitable for use on steeply sloping land where the water source may be at the bottom. Used in Kenya with considerable success, the pump is now available in Mali, where it can be used to pump water from hand-dug wells, rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. It can draw water up from 23 feet (7m) and can be used to irrigate up to 2 acres of land.
Dale and I were looking forward to seeing it in action and learning more about Mali, its biodiversity, and the challenges that local people face in their daily lives.
