Home
News
All news
The Niger – A River and Mankind

The Niger – A River and Mankind

Published on 10 June 2011 - Updated 23 April 2020
Cet article date d'il y a plus de 13 ans

International cooperation, Culture, Training and research, Mission Val de Loire

To wind up the European “Niger-Loire: governance and culture” project, a programme of activities kicked off in Bamako (Mali) on 10 May with the inauguration of the exhibition “The Niger – A River and Mankind”. The exhibition, presented at the Mali National Museum in Bamako from 10 May to 31 July 2011, focuses on some of the results of the project implemented by UNESCO from 2007 to 2011 with participation from a wide range of partners, including Mission Val de Loire and the Centre Region.

Without claiming to be in any way exhaustive, it tackles a number of fundamental questions bearing on the future of the river, through research and experiments carried out as part of the project.

Free events and activities (concerts, earth architecture workshop, storytelling and film showings), along with debates / discussions, are also on the menu. Ligerians Claire Giraud-Labalte and Patrick Gillet (Angers UCO), Jean-Pierre Berton (IMACOF / University of Tours), and Daniel Roussel, architect, introduced the panel discussion held on 13 May on the theme “Development of the river: dialogue between riverside lands and the place of culture”.

In counterpoint, the “Val de Loire World Heritage Site” exhibition organised by Mission Val de Loire was also installed at the National Museum in Bamako, by the Mission’s Directress Isabelle Longuet and its Head of Mission responsible for Education and Culture, Rémi Deleplancque. The exhibition paints a photographic portrait of this cultural landscape. Reflecting overall concerns, it reminds visitors that, throughout the world, other riverside populations share the same questions on nature’s indispensable gift to us all – her rivers.

Niger-Loire: governance and culture

The project enabled local authorities, associations and scientists at work alongside the banks of the Niger and the Loire to share their experience of the river and their questions on its future.

The project’s “Training” focus resulted, among other things, in creation of a Professional Master’s in “Decentralisation and Local Development Engineering”, on offer from the Town-Planning and Regional Development Institute at the University of Bamako, with a number of courses taught by Val de Loire academics. On the occasion of the exhibition, the Ligerians in attendance gave classes at the University of Bamako.

A publication on development and city planning in Mopti will also be appearing in the near future.