A framework for IWRM in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus for the Senegal River Delta

The Delta of the Senegal River is a complex ecosystem that serves as a source for various uses of fresh water: fishing, agriculture, grazing, ecotourism and drinking water. Climate variability and change lead to changes in the hydrological regime that impact the activities of both populations and ecosystems. Faced with this vulnerability, agricultural models must be improved to achieve integrated and sustainable water resource use. A Water-Energy-Food nexus approach is being implemented by the Senegalese Sugar Company (CSS), which produces irrigated sugar cane crops (11,000 ha). A milling by-product, bagasse (420 megatons/year), is used for power production, replacing fossil fuel and realizing the reduction of CO2 emissions by 43,000 tons/year. The current annual production of energy from bagasse allows the plant to reduce fossil fuels by 61 megatons/year and also provides energy for irrigation at CSS and surrounding smallholder fields. Next steps at CSS are to: (i) transfer 28 GWh/year from CSS into the national electric network; (ii) explore the feasibility of using high fiber energy cane cropped by smallholders on poor soils surrounding CSS farmland to be used for electricity production when bagasse stock is exhausted; (iii) promote small power station projects to run on high fiber and rustic sugarcane varieties cropped by smallholders for local electricity production in villages where electricity is not available. It is anticipated that this integrated approach will contribute to a reduction in climate change effects.