Collection of national and local level records on past flood and drought events. Most Information is on flood events, because drought data was not provided. There are gaps in the records. For several years there are only very few entries depending on the countries. The database exists in two parts. This part deals with the information collected directly within the countries from the national disaster management authorities and agricultural ministries (CONASUR, NADMO, ANPC and MDGLAAT). All available information that was recorded was included. For some entries, event-specific information could be included while for others aggregated information per year or per quarter of a year was used (not event-specific). A working paper documents the content and results of both event databases, the open source data event database and the local data event database. The three maps on (i) flood affected people, (ii) flood affected houses, and (iii) flood affected crops are drawn to illustrate the content of the database in an aggregated manner.

The database contains point data from several sites within the study area, comprising a steep south-north gradient of climatic aridity reaching from northern Ghana to central Burkina Faso between 9.0°N and 13.5°N latitude and 0.1°W and 2.0°W longitude. It is located in the southern and northern Sudanian zone of West Africa’s savanna belt, capturing a precipitation range of 600 mm to 1200 mm corresponding to UNEP aridity indices of 0.31 (semi-arid) to 0.69 (humid). Data collection took place at 44 sites during the rainy seasons in 2012 (June-September) and 2013 (July-October) and the end of the rainy season 2014 (October). Our sampling design intended to cover diverse vegetation types and a wide range of land-use intensities (including protected and degraded areas). We stratified sampling at sites by topographic position (upslope, footslope and lowland). At each slope position per site, 3-5 plots (10x10 m) were placed, containing three random circular subplots. The point data collected at each (sub)plot contains modelled data on forage quality (metabolisable energy) and quantity (green & total biomass) from spectrometric measurements, vegetation relevées (i.e. species data, vegetation clusters, phenology, photosynthetic pathway, height, cover, life span...), interview data on livestock keeping, grazing pressure and soil attributes (N, C, P, soil depth, soil structure...). Based on climate data, aridity indices were calculated. Based on fire occurrences detected by satellite images, fire frequency around sites was calculated. Based on soil moisture values detected by (radar) satellite images, soil moisture was extracted and modelled for the time of data collection. Further information: Ferner, J., Linstädter, A., Südekum, K. H., & Schmidtlein, S. (2015). Spectral indicators of forage quality in West Africa’s tropical savannas. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 41, 99-106.

The main topic of the survey is the assessment of the impact of 2012 flood on income and expenditure and poverty status of farmers. Twelve farmers in 19 villages in two municipalities (Malanville and Karimama) have been interviewed.