Senegal Environment - 2023

Environment - current issues

deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; periodic droughts; seasonal flooding; overfishing; weak environmental protective laws; wildlife populations threatened by poaching

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

tropical; hot, humid; rainy season (May to November) has strong southeast winds; dry season (December to April) dominated by hot, dry, harmattan wind

Land use

agricultural land: 46.8% (2018 est.)

arable land: 17.4% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.3% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 29.1% (2018 est.)

forest: 43.8% (2018 est.)

other: 9.4% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 49.6% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 3.59% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

severe localized food insecurity: due to localized shortfalls in cereal production and reduced incomes - according to the latest analysis, about 881,000 people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance between June and August 2022, mostly on account of localized shortfalls in cereal production in 2021 and reduced incomes owing to the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic (2022)

Revenue from forest resources

1.46% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 37.52 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 10.9 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 11.74 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 2,454,059 tons (2016 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Senegal (shared with Guinea [s], Mali, and Mauritania [m] ) - 1,641 km; Gambia (shared with Guinea [s] and The Gambia [m]) - 1,094 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Senegal (456,397 sq km)

Major aquifers

Senegalo-Mauritanian Basin

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 260 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 58 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 2.76 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

38.97 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)