1.

SPEAKER 1
Takele Teshome - Executive Director - Association for Sustainable Development
Alternatives (ASDA), Email: takele_11@yahoo.com

TOPIC: NGO' s experiences in integrating participatory natural Resource

Management with climate
change and climate smart livelihood diversification to enhance disaster risk
reduction.

2. SPEAKER 2
Barry Kassambara - Hydraulic Engineer, University of Segou, Mali, Email: kassbarry@gmail.com

TOPIC: Water-level Forecasts of Niger Inner Delta in Mali and the ecological effects of hydrological
change
Niger Inner Delta (NID) is a wetland that was selected as international important Wetland under the
Ramsar Convention (on February 1st, 2004) and also considered as a hotspot of biodiversity in the
Sahel. The Niger River as main source of water for the NID is also used for urban life and irrigation.
Therefore, the sustainable use of water to ensure the environmental flow in the NID is under
discussion. The ecological effects of hydrological changes in the Upper Niger Basin have a far-
reaching scope. The basin serves several functions at a regional and national level, most of which
directly affect the welfare of people in the central part of Mali. In this presentation, we evaluate the
performances of different approaches for the NID water-level forecasting and the influence of the
water-level fluctuation on the ecological services.

3. SPEAKER 3
Koupamba Gisèle Sanni – Agro-écologist, Laboratory of Aplied Ecology, University of
Abomey-Calavi, Email: sinasson.gisele@gmail.com

TOPIC: The practice of monitoring ecological sustainability in agricultural systems: key approaches
and indicators
Monitoring different aspects of ecological sustainability (ES) became a requirement in the current
context of the ongoing worldwide environmental issues (e.g. climate change, land degradation,
drought, pollution). It is important to understand the practice of ES monitoring and to identify the most
appropriate approaches and indicators. This is essential, in agricultural production systems, to
effectively assess changes at the level of individual lands and ecosystems, and to guide participative
and evidence-based promotion and scaling of sustainable agricultural and water management practices
that would contribute to the desired positive conservation and development outcomes. The practice of
ES monitoring can be complex and daunting as it involves adopting a long-term, system-level
monitoring approach and considering socio-economic and political implications. Also, multiple
approaches and indicators exist and are used depending on the socio-ecological contexts, but require a
better understanding of specific ecologies and skills. Here we provide an overview of the importance
of ES monitoring, particularly in agricultural production systems, the environmental impacts of
agricultural and water management practices, the practice of effective ES monitoring as well as key
approaches and indicators, and challenges related to ES monitoring.