Saving Niger River nice gesture but likely no more

A €1 billion pledge to “save” the Niger River sounds like a great idea, but will it really do anything?

As the story notes, the river has fallen as much as 55 percent over the past 20 years and population is due to double in the river’s basin over the next 20 years.

Given the combination of that potential last fact, plus global warming, one thinks the World Bank et al would have been much smarter to spend all the euros on birth control in countries of the Sahel instead.