During the wet season, which generally lasts from June to September but is longer the further south one goes, the swamp floods into a lake and naturally irrigates the land.

The Macina inland delta also provides water and fish for the Malians living there and during the wet season is a haven for large numbers of birds.

The Niger inland Delta lies in the Sahelian zone, and has an ecosystem that is largely dependent on the amount of flooding it receives.

While the wet season lasts three months from July till September, the western and southern edges of the delta area are not flooded until early to mid-October.

In turn, this strongly affects land use in and around the inland delta, as human impact is driven by agriculture, both irrigated and rainfed, grazing and browsing of herds and flocks and the collection of wood for fuel, all dependent on the availability of water.

The delta is home to birds in large numbers including hundreds of thousands of wintering garganeys, pintails and ruffs and breeding colonies of cormorant, heron, spoonbill, ibis and other waterbirds including the endangered West African subspecies of black crowned crane (Balearica pavonina pavonina).

Mammals remaining include the African manatee, known as the sea cow which lives in the rivers and feeds on underwater plants.

And the rivers are rich in fish including two endemics; the Mochokidae catfish Synodontis gobroni and a cichlid, Gobiocichla wonderi.

The area under deep inundation is crucial for pastoralists, because it is only there that Borgou (Echinochloa stagnina) grows, a plant which is particularly nutritious for cattle.

According to a report in Jeune Afrique, the researcher tried to alert the authorities about the need to find alternative livelihoods for the pastoralists, apparently without success.

Low water levels in the rivers, lack of rain, increasing human population and a break-up of the traditional tribal arrangements for sharing the resources of the delta are all factors that may contribute to severely damaging the ecosystem.