STRATEGIES DADAPTATION DES POPULATIONS FACE AUX INONDATIONS EN CONTEXTE DE CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE A MISSABOUGOU DANS LA COMMUNE VI DU DISTRICT DE BAMAKO AU MALI

Every rainy season, the natural drainage channel of Missabougou overflows and water floods the homes, shops and streets of this former market-gardening village, now a peri-urban neighbourhood of Commune VI in Bamako. This study examines how households and institutions cope with these floods and how effective they perceive their responses to be. It uses a mixed-methods design: a questionnaire survey of 50 households conducted in August 2026 and stratified into five zones of ten households, including a control zone on sloping ground, semi-structured interviews with five institutions, and field observations. All households report that the neighbourhood floods every year; 76% have been flooded in their own homes, none in the control zone. The causes cited are primarily human: drains blocked by waste (86%) and inadequate drainage (60%), ahead of heavy rainfall (58%) and the low-lying location (44%). Loss of belongings (74%) and illness (62%) dominate the reported impacts. To protect themselves, households raise their belongings off the floor (74%), build seasonal low walls (46%) or clear the drains (34%). They rate these strategies as of little effectiveness (50%) or ineffective (26%), and none find them very effective. Lack of money (68%) and of support from the authorities (56%) are the main obstacles, and 84% of households consider public action insufficient.