Global and regional climate simulation results often do not accurately reflect changes in climate, hampering their direct applicability. Impact studies using high-resolution data received bias correction for climate variables. This study made it possible to choose and validate regional climate models from the CORDEX-Africa database in order to describe the future climate of the Sassandra River watershed in Buyo (western Côte d’Ivoire). The choice of models was made by the Taylor diagram method associated with the seasonal profile of the models and observations. Thus, the outputs of the selected models were corrected by the Distribution Mapping method (quantile mapping) using the CMhyd tool. At the end the potential future climate changes are assessed by analyzing the changes predicted by the models. The study reveals that the ICHEC, IPSL and NCC models have a good ability to simulate the climate of the basin. The climate simulation shows variations in climate parameters. The RCP 4.5 scenario forecasts rainfall fluctuations of -20.8% to +58.1% by 2030 and from -18.8% to +61.7% by 2050. The RCP 8.5 predict precipitation fluctuations of -19.4% to +43.8% by 2030 and -7.5% to +73.3% by 2050. All models include an increase in temperature under the two scenarios from +1.6 to +4.4℃ for RCP 4.5 and from +2.1 to +5℃ for RCP 8.5.

Like the West African countries, the Sassandra river basin limited at Soubré is facing the challenges of climate change. Seen anthropogenic activities have contributed to modifying the climate in a sustainable way, it is important to have as clear an idea as possible of possible climate changes. The main objective of this study is to characterize the variability of climate parameters in order to sustainably manage its impacts on basin development projects. So, the methodology adopted is divided into 2 steps: the characterization of climate variability and the characterization of climate change to 2030 and 2050 horizon. The results of climate variability showed a decrease in rainfall and an increase in temperatures. In terms of climate change, under scenario RCP4.5, minimum and maximum temperatures are projected to increase by 1.4°C to 1.8°C by 2030 and 2050. At the same horizons and under scenario RCP8.5, there is an average increase of 1.4°C to 2.4°C. In terms of annual rainfall, projections show an upward trend of 1% by 2030 and a downward trend of 1% by 2050 under the RCP4.5 scenario. The scenario RCP8.5 predicts an increase in precipitation with rates greater than 35% at both future horizons.