Impacts of water reservoir valorization on agro-pastoralists’ drought vulnerability in Central and Northern Bénin

Abstract

The study, conducted with 428 actors across five communes in northern and central Bénin, analyzed the impacts of water reservoir valorization on their vulnerability to drought. Two following composite indices were used: the Reservoir Valorization Index (RVI), constructed using principal component analysis; the Vulnerability Index (VI), based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity). The results indicated moderate vulnerability (VI = 0.52 ± 0.22) and highly heterogeneous levels of the reservoir valorization (RVI = 0.37 ± 0.21). A strong negative relationship was observed between RVI and VI, suggesting that improved management and use of reservoirs significantly (p < 0.05) reduced vulnerability, with a more pronounced impact in livestock and fish farming than in crop production. Beneficiaries experienced lower physical losses (crops, livestock, fish) and a higher intensity of adoption of adaptation strategies, although income losses often remained between 10 % and 30 %. Factor analysis of adaptation strategies revealed differentiated adaptation profiles across value chains and three groups of agro-pastoralists (highly engaged, moderately engaged, weakly engaged. The differences in vulnerability observed between reservoirs highlighted the decisive role of local governance and institutional arrangements. Thus the study proposes an operational framework for linking reservoir valorization and vulnerability reduction, and for deriving targeted priority actions by type of activity and by the site.