Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal

The Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal ( OMVS ), is an organization which was founded on 11 March 1972 by the countries of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal in Nouakchott, to manage the Senegal River and its catchment area of 289,000 km ². The headquarters of this organization is in Dakar.

The goals of the organization are directed towards securing food self-sufficiency, improve the income of the local populations and to preserve the natural ecosystems. This should be accomplished by the water drain next to the navigability of the Senegal River is completely artificially controlled by the construction of two dams and eastward allows.

Above St. Louis then the diam - dam was built to stop the ingress of salty sea water in the Senegal River. This an all-season irrigated agriculture in the Senegal River was made possible. 1989 another dam, the Manantali dam in the upper reaches of Bafing ( source of the river Senegal - current) was built. This dam has since been the Senegal River are regulated. In addition, the fishing industry he benefited, because in Bamako very popular since Nile perch can be caught in the lake. To a large extent the project by the World Bank and the EU has been funded.

Through a furnished environment monitoring observatory trying today to master ecologically unfavorable impact of the construction projects. To create makes the authorities, including the death of many trees in the Senegal river valley, the introduction of the weed water hyacinth and the increase of diseases such as Rift Valley fever and schistosomiasis.