Diffa-Kinzindi grassland and wetlands (24260)
Niger, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2008
National site name: Diffa-Kinzindi grassland and wetlands
Central coordinates: Latitude: 13.5000, Longitude: 12.5000
System: freshwater, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 272 to 364
Area of KBA (km2): 8567.96058
KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: It lies within the Sahel zone and corresponds to 'Zone ecologique 4' of Giraudoux et al. (1988). This part of Niger has a single rainy season from late May to early October with an average annual precipitation of c. 340 mm. The Komadougou Yobe River forms the southern boundary and is the border with Nigeria. Maine-Soroa, Diffa and Nguigmi are the only towns and most villages are found along the river and the former shore of Lake Chad.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)
Additional biodiversity: 250 bird species were recorded in 2008. Otherwise very little had been published on the birds of southeast Niger.The observations summarized by Giraudoux et al. (1988) were mainly from the 1970s, with few from the 1920s by Buchannan (Harterrt 1921, Bates 1933) and from the 1940s by Rousseelot (1947).
Delineation rationale: 2020-07-14: draft polygon has GIS area of 856,796 ha; reported area is rounded to the nearest 10% (860,000 ha).
Habitats
Summary of habitats in KBA: The natural vegetation is mostly grassland with scattred trees, in particular Acaccia spp. and Balanites aegyptiaca. During the rainy season, many isolated wetlands form across the grassland, some of which hold water for a few months after the end of the rainy season. To the north and west, the grassland is borderd by huge tracts of sand dunes, including the Désert du Tal, with no or only a thin cover of desert grass and shrub-land. The eastern border follows the former shore of the now dry northern basin of Lake Chad, where the vegetation is at present mainly Mesquite Prosopsis juliflora, an introduced American tree. The vegetation is denser along the river and is often flooded during the height of the rainy season. Small-scale rice cultivation and irrigation fields with vegetables are found close to the river, in particular near Diffa. In a belt extending c. 5 km away from the river the grassland has been cultivated in many places to grow millet and sorghum. Fulani pastoralists with herds of cattle and goats utilise most of the grassland during the rainy season and some months after. During the dry season most herders move their livestock to areas close to the river or into Nigeria. While thick layers of wind-deposited sand cover most of the Sahel, the grassland in SE Niger is mainly on a clay plain, with extensive layers of sand only to the north and west. This provides particularly favourable breeding habitat for grasshoppers, most notably the Senegalese Grasshopper.
Land use: agriculture | rangeland/pastureland
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Wetlands(Inland) | 5 | |
| Savanna | 5 | |
| Grassland | 90 |