Plaquette : Making the Senegal river navigable - IAGF 6ème session

What are the solutions? The OMVS is monitoring this phenomenon throu gh its Environmental Observatory set up in 2000, and isevaluat ing and worki ng on responses. At present t he natural enemy of cattail has not been ident ifi ed and the use of chemical solut ions is excluded. The population uses cattail fo r craft purposes to make false ceilings, build palisades and weave baskets. This artisanal utilisation does not get rid o f the problem. We have to find an industrial activity that uses cattail as a raw ma teria1. TAM51R NDJAYE Tests have been carried out to produce compost, charcoal briquett es, and 50 forth , but have not proven conclusive. Corinne Castel, a Director of Research at t he CNRS, presented a project managed by the association CRAterre between 20 14 and 20 16 in Senegal to use cattail as a construction material w ith earth in the f ramework of sustainable development: construction w ith low energy and environmental impact; habitat f riendly construct ion using local methods, etc. The programme was stopped for want of suff icient political backing and the authorisation to build a prototype. According to her, however, it provided a genuine opportun ity to make cattail a sustainable resource. 7