Developing a flood marking system in Nigeria

Impact: Changes in policies, plans and strategies

Partners: WA-Net, NWRI (Nigeria)

People living along the flood plains in Nigeria have experienced the loss of life, property and sources of livelihood for several years now. Through WANET’s trainings on climate resilience which have been carried out since 2015, a great level of awareness has been raised among key water sector stakeholders such as the Department of Dams and Reservoir Operations, the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority of Yola, the Kaduna State Water Corporation, the National Water Resources Institute and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution of Abuja. The training has led to the installation of flood marks as an adaptive measure for flood management. The approach has been included in the Federal Government of Nigeria national annual budget. The pilot phase of the project has kicked off in Kaduna state and will be replicated subsequently in all the 36 states of the country and in the federal capital. The approach was adopted to have a scientific means of quantifying the flood level over a given period of time. The collected data will help predict the likelihood of flood occurrence in the future, find out causes of upstream flooding and identify the vulnerability of an area to high level of flooding.