Burkina Faso is experiencing floods during this rainy season. Just like Mali and Niger. With their share of effects, each as amazing as the next. In particular loss of life and damage to infrastructure and private property, including homes and agricultural production areas. Which, at first glance, could indicate a bad agricultural season if the rain were to become more violent and more abundant.
In addition, if the countries that are members of the Confederation of Sahel States cannot do anything about floods because they are caused by climate change, it is possible to take measures to reduce the numbers and to secure some of their property. But this is not enough because other measures must be taken now to deal with the consequences of shortages in terms of agricultural production. Because floods have always caused loss of planted areas and, in turn, loss of crops. So much so that producers who have suffered floods sometimes find themselves with nothing in their grain at harvest time.
Floods can be understood as a phenomenon related to climate change and that any country may experience. However, the fact remains that steps can be taken to reduce their impact. When analyzed, one of the effects of flooding is poor planning of urbanization and infrastructure building in most of our countries. Many urbanization plans are not respected. So much so that we can find homes in areas that are obviously flooded but have unfortunately been the subject of official subdivision. In addition, if the rainwater drainage infrastructure is not sufficient, it is poorly constructed and therefore inadequate.
It is time to rethink the development of our cities, especially cities that are increasingly welcoming large numbers of people fleeing armed terrorist groups. To do this, the three countries of the AES Confederation must not remove themselves from the good relations that exist between them to share experiences in this field. As long as they share a lot in common, they can combine their efforts to create infrastructures that suit their ambitions. Also, urban development plans (even if countries do not have the same facts) can be shared, as well as experiences.
In the meantime, we still need to save what we can. First, by finding ways and means for the suffering of the many people who will be affected or will be affected by the floods. It is also necessary, as was the case in Burkina, to build a temporary but solid infrastructure to compensate for the damage to allow the movement of goods and people in the meantime. These are challenges that the authorities of the three countries certainly did not expect. But, they are there; they must be raised. As well as other major challenges including the fight against terrorism and reducing the humanitarian crisis.
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