Building bridges across borders to co-develop flood early warning in the Sahel
Vieri Tarchiani
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of BioEconomy – National Research Council (IBE‐CNR), 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Daniele Ganora
Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Riccardo Vesipa
Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Francesco Pasi
Institute of BioEconomy – National Research Council (IBE‐CNR), 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Laboratorio di Monitoraggio e Modellistica Ambientale, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Valerio Capecchi
Laboratorio di Monitoraggio e Modellistica Ambientale, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Marco Piras
Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Elena Belcore
Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Maurizio Bacci
Institute of BioEconomy – National Research Council (IBE‐CNR), 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Tiziana Antonietta De Filippis
Institute of BioEconomy – National Research Council (IBE‐CNR), 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Maurizio Tiepolo
Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Related authors
No articles found.
Elena Belcore, Marco Piras, Alvaro Moreno, and Ana B. Ruescas
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIX-B3-2026, 897–905, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-897-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-897-2026, 2026
Hassan Ali Makkawi Gassim, Vincenzo Di Pietra, and Marco Piras
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., X-2-W2-2025, 133–140, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-2-W2-2025-133-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-2-W2-2025-133-2025, 2025
Muhammad Abraiz, Elena Belcore, and Marco Piras
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-M-6-2025, 9–14, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-6-2025-9-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-6-2025-9-2025, 2025
Giulia Evangelista, Paola Mazzoglio, Daniele Ganora, Francesca Pianigiani, and Pierluigi Claps
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1407–1426, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1407-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1407-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the first comprehensive dataset of 528 large dams in Italy. It contains structural characteristics of the dams, such as coordinates, reservoir surface areas and volumes, together with a range of geomorphological, climatological, extreme rainfall, land cover and soil-related attributes of their upstream catchments.
Elena Belcore, Tiziana De Filippis, Daniele Ganora, Marco Piras, Vieri Tarchiani, Maurizio Tiepolo, and Riccardo Vesipa
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-5-2024, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-5-2024-1-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-5-2024-1-2024, 2024
Alessandra Spadaro, Marco Piras, Nives Grasso, Piernicola Lollino, Alessandro Parisi, and Daniele Giordan
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-2-2024, 401–407, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-2024-401-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-2024-401-2024, 2024
Valeria Longhi, Alessio Martino, Andrea Maria Lingua, Paolo Felice Maschio, and Elena Belcore
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-1-2024, 443–450, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-2024-443-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-2024-443-2024, 2024
Pierluigi Claps, Giulia Evangelista, Daniele Ganora, Paola Mazzoglio, and Irene Monforte
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1503–1522, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1503-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1503-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
FOCA (Italian FlOod and Catchment Atlas) is the first systematic collection of data on Italian river catchments. It comprises geomorphological, soil, land cover, NDVI, climatological and extreme rainfall catchment attributes. FOCA also contains 631 peak and daily discharge time series covering the 1911–2016 period. Using this first nationwide data collection, a wide range of applications, in particular flood studies, can be undertaken within the Italian territory.
C. Spadavecchia, M. B. Campos, M. Piras, E. Puttonen, and A. Shcherbacheva
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-1-W2-2023, 1795–1802, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W2-2023-1795-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W2-2023-1795-2023, 2023
V. Di Pietra, M. Piras, P. Grasso, F. Fasano, D. Sera, and G. Ciaramella
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-1-W1-2023, 121–129, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W1-2023-121-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W1-2023-121-2023, 2023
C. Spadavecchia, E. Belcore, N. Grasso, and M. Piras
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-1-W1-2023, 457–463, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W1-2023-457-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W1-2023-457-2023, 2023
N. Grasso, P. Dabove, and M. Piras
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-2-W3-2023, 73–79, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W3-2023-73-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W3-2023-73-2023, 2023
C. Spadavecchia, E. Belcore, and V. Di Pietra
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-2-W3-2023, 247–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W3-2023-247-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W3-2023-247-2023, 2023
E. Belcore and V. Di Pietra
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-4-W1-2022, 51–58, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W1-2022-51-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W1-2022-51-2022, 2022
Masoume Mahboubi, Elena Belcore, Emanuele Pontoglio, Francesca Matrone, and Andrea Lingua
AGILE GIScience Ser., 3, 46, https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-3-46-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-3-46-2022, 2022
F. Gaspari, F. Ioli, F. Barbieri, E. Belcore, and L. Pinto
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIII-B2-2022, 995–1002, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B2-2022-995-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B2-2022-995-2022, 2022
Cited articles
Aich, V., Koné, B., Hattermann, F. F., and Paton, E. N.: Time Series Analysis of Floods across the Niger River Basin, Water, 8, 165, https://doi.org/10.3390/w8040165, 2016.
Belcore, E., De Filippis, T., Ganora, D., Piras, M., Tarchiani, V., Tiepolo, M., and Vesipa, R.: Geospatial Capacity Building for Flood Resilience in the Sahel: the SLAPIS project case study, The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLVIII-5–2024, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-5-2024-1-2024, 2024.
Born, L.: Recommendations for climate services good practice, CCAFS Working Paper no. 396, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Wageningen, the Netherlands, https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116952 (last access: 19 August 2026), 2021.
Bremer, S., Wardekker, A., Dessai, S., Sobolowski, S., Slaattelid, R., and van der Sluijs, J.: Toward a multi-faceted conception of co-production of climate services, Climate Services, 13, 42–50, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2019.01.003, 2019.
Carter, S., Steynor, A., Vincent, K., Visman, E., and Waagsaether, K.: Co-production in African weather and climate services, 2nd edn., Future Climate for Africa and Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, https://futureclimateafrica.org/coproduction-manual (last access: 19 August 2026), 2019.
Chagnaud, G., Panthou, G., Vischel, T., and Lebel, T.: A synthetic view of rainfall intensification in the West African Sahel, Environ. Res. Lett., 17, 044005, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac4a9c, 2022.
Daniels, E., Bharwani, S., and Butterfield, R.: The Tandem framework: a holistic approach to co-designing climate services, SEI Discussion Brief, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, https://www.sei.org/publications/the-tandem-framework-a-holistic-approach-to-co-designing-climate-services/ (last access: 19 August 2026), 2019.
De Filippis, T., Rocchi, L., Massazza, G., Pezzoli, A., Rosso, M., Housseini Ibrahim, M., and Tarchiani, V.: Hydrological Web Services for Operational Flood Risk Monitoring and Forecasting at Local Scale in Niger, ISPRS Int. Geo-Inf., 11, 236, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11040236, 2022.
Descroix, L., Guichard, F., Grippa, M., Lambert, L. A., Panthou, G., Mahé, G., Gal, L., Dardel, C., Quantin, G., Kergoat, L., Bouaïta, Y., Hiernaux, P., Vischel, T., Pellarin, T., Faty, B., Wilcox, C., Malam Abdou, M., Mamadou, I., Vandervaere, J.-P., Diongue-Niang, A., Ndiaye, O., Sané, Y., Dacosta, H., Gosset, M., Cassé, C., Sultan, B., Barry, A., Amogu, O., Nka Nnomo, B., Barry, A., and Paturel, J.-E.: Evolution of Surface Hydrology in the Sahelo-Sudanian Strip: An Updated Review, Water, 10, 748, https://doi.org/10.3390/w10060748, 2018.
Diop, S. B., Tramblay, Y., Bodian, A., Ekolu, J., Rouché, N., and Dieppois, B.: Flood Frequency Analysis in West Africa, J. Flood Risk Manage., 18, e70001, https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.70001, 2025.
Elagib, N. A., Zayed, I. S. A., Saad, S. A. G., Mahmood, M. I., Basheer, M., and Fink, A. H.: Debilitating floods in the Sahel are becoming frequent, J. Hydrol., 599, 126362, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126362, 2021.
Fiorillo, E., Crisci, A., Issa, H., Maracchi, G., Morabito, M., and Tarchiani, V.: Recent Changes of Floods and Related Impacts in Niger Based on the ANADIA Niger Flood Database, Climate, 6, 59, https://doi.org/10.3390/cli6030059, 2018.
Giuliani, G., Nativi, S., Obregon, A., Beniston, M., and Lehmann, A.: Spatially enabling the Global Framework for Climate Services: Reviewing geospatial solutions to efficiently share and integrate climate data & information, Climate Services, 8, 44–58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2017.08.003, 2017.
Hewitt, C. D. and Stone, R.: Climate services for managing societal risks and opportunities, Climate Services, 23, 100240, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2021.100240, 2021.
Lemos, M. C., Kirchhoff, C. J., and Ramprasad, V.: Narrowing the climate information usability gap, Nat. Clim. Change, 2, 789–794, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1614, 2012.
Massazza, G., Tamagnone, P., Wilcox, C., Belcore, E., Pezzoli, A., Vischel, T., Panthou, G., Ibrahim, M. H., Tiepolo, M., Tarchiani, V., and Rosso, M.: Flood Hazard Scenarios of the Sirba River (Niger): Evaluation of the Hazard Thresholds and Flooding Areas, Water, 11, https://doi.org/10.3390/w11051018, 2019.
Massazza, G., Tarchiani, V., Andersson, J. C. M., Ali, A., Ibrahim, M. H., Pezzoli, A., De Filippis, T., Rocchi, L., Minoungou, B., Gustafsson, D., and Rosso, M.: Downscaling Regional Hydrological Forecast for Operational Use in Local Early Warning: HYPE Models in the Sirba River, Water, 12, https://doi.org/10.3390/w12123504, 2020.
Massazza, G., Bacci, M., Descroix, L., Ibrahim, M. H., Fiorillo, E., Katiellou, G. L., Panthou, G., Pezzoli, A., Rosso, M., Sauzedde, E., Terenziani, A., De Filippis, T., Rocchi, L., Burrone, S., Tiepolo, M., Vischel, T., and Tarchiani, V.: Recent Changes in Hydroclimatic Patterns over Medium Niger River Basins at the Origin of the 2020 Flood in Niamey (Niger), Water, 13, https://doi.org/10.3390/w13121659, 2021.
Meadow, A. M., Ferguson, D. B., Guido, Z., Horangic, A., Owen, G., and Wall, T.: Moving toward the Deliberate Coproduction of Climate Science Knowledge, Weather Clim. Soc., 7, 179–191, https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-14-00050.1, 2015.
Pahl-Wostl, C.: Water Governance in the Face of Global Change: From Understanding to Transformation, Water Governance – Concepts, Methods, and Practice, Springer International Publishing, Cham, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21855-7, 2015.
Pahl-Wostl, C.: The role of governance modes and meta-governance in the transformation towards sustainable water governance, Environ. Sci. Policy, 91, 6–16, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.10.008, 2019.
Pahl-Wostl, C., Lebel, L., Knieper, C., and Nikitina, E.: From applying panaceas to mastering complexity: Toward adaptive water governance in river basins, Environ. Sci. Policy, 23, 24–34, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.07.014, 2012.
Panthou, G., Lebel, T., Vischel, T., Quantin, G., Sane, Y., Ba, A., Ndiaye, O., Diongue-Niang, A., and Diopkane, M.: Rainfall intensification in tropical semi-arid regions: the Sahelian case, Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 064013, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac334, 2018.
Passerotti, G., Massazza, G., Pezzoli, A., Bigi, V., Zsótér, E., and Rosso, M.: Hydrological Model Application in the Sirba River: Early Warning System and GloFAS Improvements, Water, 12, 620, https://doi.org/10.3390/w12030620, 2020.
Perego, A., Fugazza, C., Vaccari, L., Lutz, M., Smits, P., Kanellopoulos, I., and Schade, S.: Harmonization and Interoperability of EU Environmental Information and Services, IEEE Intelligent Systems, https://doi.org/10.1109/MIS.2012.22, 2012.
Sauzedde, E., Vischel, T., Panthou, G., Tarchiani, V., Massazza, G., and Housseini Ibrahim, M.: Compound-event analysis in non-stationary hydrological hazards: a case study of the Niger River in Niamey, Hydrol. Sci. J., 70, 406–421, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2024.2435534, 2025.
Schröter, K., Schweizer, P.-J., Gräler, B., Cumiskey, L., Bharwani, S., Parviainen, J., Kropf, C. M., Håkansson, V. W., Drews, M., Irvine, T., Dondi, C., Apel, H., Löhrlein, J., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Bagli, S., Huszti, L., Genillard, C., Unguendoli, S., Hattermann, F., and Steinhausen, M.: Invited perspectives: Fostering interoperability of data, models, communication, and governance for disaster resilience through transdisciplinary knowledge co-production, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3055–3073, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3055-2025, 2025.
Steynor, A., Lee, J., and Davison, A.: Transdisciplinary co-production of climate services: a focus on process, Soc. Dynamics, 46, 414–433, https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2020.1853961, 2020.
Street, R. B.: Towards a leading role on climate services in Europe: A research and innovation roadmap, Climate Services, 1, 2–5, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2015.12.001, 2016.
Street, R. B., Buontempo, C., Mysiak, J., Karali, E., Pulquério, M., Murray, V., and Swart, R.: How could climate services support disaster risk reduction in the 21st century, Int. J. Disast. Risk Re., 34, 28–33, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.12.001, 2019.
Tangam, I. S., Yonaba, R., Ibrahim, B., Adamou, M. M., and Karambiri, H.: Hydrological drivers of flooding in Niamey (Niger): the role of the Sirba River, Environ. Res. Commun., 7, 015029, https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/adaac9, 2025.
Tarchiani, V. and Bacci, M.: The added value of the process in climate services co-production: Lessons from Niger, Climate Services, 33, 100435, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2023.100435, 2024.
Tarchiani, V., Massazza, G., Rosso, M., Tiepolo, M., Pezzoli, A., Ibrahim, M. H., Katiellou, G. L., Tamagnone, P., De Filippis, T., Rocchi, L., Marchi, V., and Rapisardi, E.: Community and Impact Based Early Warning System for Flood Risk Preparedness: The Experience of the Sirba River in Niger, Sustainability, 12, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051802, 2020.
Tarchiani, V., Pasi, F., Bere, R. T., Sayri, Y. A., Gozzini, B., and Capecchi, V.: From training to transformation: co-producing sustainable early warning competence in West Africa, Climate Services, 42, 100659, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2026.100659, 2026.
Tarhule, A.: Damaging Rainfall and Flooding: The Other Sahel Hazards, Clim. Change, 72, 355–377, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-6792-4, 2005.
Tiepolo, M., Rosso, M., Massazza, G., Belcore, E., Issa, S., and Braccio, S.: Flood Assessment for Risk-Informed Planning along the Sirba River, Niger, Sustainability, 11, 4003, https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154003, 2019.
Tiepolo, M., Braccio, S., Fiorillo, E., Galligari, A., Katiellou, G. L., Massazza, G., and Tarchiani, V.: Participatory risk assessment of pluvial floods in four towns of Niger, Int. J. Disast. Risk Re., 84, 103454, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103454, 2023.
Tiepolo, M., Abraiz, M., Bacci, M., Baoua, O., Belcore, E., Cannella, G., Fiorillo, E., Ganora, D., Housseini, M. I., Katiellou, G. L., Piras, M., Saretto, F., and Tarchiani, V.: Flood Damage Risk Mapping Along the River 75 Niger: Ten Benefits of a Participated Approach, Climate, 13, 80, https://doi.org/10.3390/cli13040080, 2025.
Tiepolo, M., Housseini, M. I., Cannella, G., Katiellou, G. L., Ganora, D., Marmolejo Gutierrez, A., Saretto F., Tarchiani, V., and Vesipa, R.: The contribution of fine-grained exposure to flood risk assessment along the Niger River, Nat. Hazards, 122, 554, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-026-08308-1, 2026.
UNISDR: 2009 UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction, UNDRR, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3967528?v=pdf (last access: 19 August 2026), 2009.
Vaughan, C. and Dessai, S.: Climate services for society: origins, institutional arrangements, and design elements for an evaluation framework, WIREs Clim. Change, 5, 587–603, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.290, 2014.
Vincent, K., Daly, M., Scannell, C., and Leathes, B.: What can climate services learn from theory and practice of co-production?, Climate Services, 12, 48–58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2018.11.001, 2018.
Vincent, K., Carter, S., Steynor, A., Visman, E., and Wågsæther, K. L.: Addressing power imbalances in co-production, Nat. Clim. Chang., 10, 877–878, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00910-w, 2020.
Vincent, K., Steynor, A., McClure, A., Visman, E., Waagsaether, K. L., Carter, S., and Mittal, N.: Co-production: Learning from Contexts, in: Climate Risk in Africa: Adaptation and Resilience, edited by: Conway, D. and Vincent, K., Springer International Publishing, Cham, 37–56, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61160-6_3, 2021.
Visman, E., Vincent, K., Steynor, A., Karani, I., and Mwangi, E.: Defining metrics for monitoring and evaluating the impact of co-production in climate services, Climate Services, 26, 100297, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2022.100297, 2022.
Weichselgartner, J. and Arheimer, B.: Evolving Climate Services into Knowledge–Action Systems, Weather Clim. Soc., 11, 385–399, https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0087.1, 2019.
Wilcox, C., Vischel, T., Panthou, G., Bodian, A., Blanchet, J., Descroix, L., Quantin, G., Cassé, C., Tanimoun, B., and Kone, S.: Trends in hydrological extremes in the Senegal and Niger Rivers, J. Hydrol., 566, 531–545, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.07.063, 2018.
WMO: EARLY WARNINGS FOR ALL, WMO, Geneva, Switzerland, https://library.wmo.int/records/item/58209-early-warnings-for-all (last access: 19 August 2026), 2022.
WMO: Italian-African cooperation to strengthen early warnings in the Sahel, https://wmo.int/media/news-from-members/italian-african-cooperation-strengthen-early-warnings-sahel (last access: 8 July 2026), 2025.
Short summary
FEWSs are difficult to implement in shared river basins because institutional fragmentation and decision-making asymmetries. Using the transboundary expansion of the SLAPIS FEWS between Niger and Burkina Faso, this study shows how an existing co-production framework can be operationally adapted to address these challenges. The paper identifies practical implementation requirements for transboundary climate services and highlights priorities for future research on evaluating their added value.
FEWSs are difficult to implement in shared river basins because institutional fragmentation and...