The African water challenges discussed above appear to fall into two categories. These are challenges associated with water resource management, and challenges associated with the delivery of water services at different levels of society. Rainfall variability and climate change fall under the first category.
Rainfall Variability and Climate Change
Rainfall variability is a natural phenomenon driven by complex natural forces that are not well understood or easily predicted and now exacerbated by climate change. They have a ripple effect downstream, affecting planning for such services as water supplies and agricultural production; they also give rise to risks of flooding and drought. Their key characteristic is uncertainty. Consequently, strategies for risk management are applicable to managing the challenges related to rainfall variability and climate change.
Traditionally, risk management has been based on quantitative links between probability and a hazard event like drought or floods, and the cost of the consequences of this event has typically been expressed in monetary terms. A new approach to managing water risks has been proposed based on the view that risk is a socially defined concept, and that more attention needs to be paid to instruments and institutions which allow individuals and communities to be meaningfully involved in expressing their own risk mitigation preferences. The use of the physical sciences and structural approached to address water risk management needs to be complemented by thinking from the perspective of economic efficiency. This framework is basically the IWRM approach
Within this framework, certain structural measures could be used for mitigating the risks of rainfall variability. Foremost among them is integrated management of land, forests and water. Water-specific measures may include the use of storage reservoirs and ground water storage. It is to be noted, however, that in view of the high rainfall variability and the high concentration of total annual rainfall within a short period of time in some regions, structural solutions involving the use of dams can be highly expensive. Moreover, they can be technically complex. Africa is handicapped in both respects, in view of the level of poverty and inadequacy of technical personnel in the region. Long-range forecasting, based on long-term meteorological data have proved most helpful in advanced countries, and needs to be pursued vigorously in Africa.
Non-structural approaches that have been advocated include cooperation between countries and sub-regions for watershed management and for wetlands conservation. Also important is policy reform, including the creation of incentives for intensive farming, land-use zoning, pricing and economic incentives.
The scope and origins of rainfall variability and climate change fall beyond single countries and even beyond single water basins. Consequently, addressing them, calls for cooperation between countries; and the sustainability of such cooperation requires a mutually acceptable system of water governance. The appropriate system of governance may be best located at a level that is covered by the scale of the phenomena being governed. In all probability, this would be beyond the level of transboundary water basins. Hence, the level for this system of governance could be placed at the sub-regional level or at the regional level.
Multiplicity of Transboundary Water Basins
In contrast to rainfall variability and climate change that are driven mainly by natural forces, the existence of a multiplicity of transboundary water basins is driven only partly by natural phenomena. It is largely the result of arbitrary political boundaries created during the colonial history of Africa. It is, therefore, mainly a man-made phenomenon whose persistence as a challenge in water resources management is largely contingent upon political will and political choices.
One of the constraints to the resolution of this challenge is the lack of clarity about the benefits for cooperation within natural water basins that cut across national boundaries. Upstream countries might well ask about what they stand to gain through international cooperation within water basins. Hence a key measure in addressing this challenge should be the identification of the inherent mutual benefits of the basin approach to water resources management. It is important to demonstrate that international cooperation within natural water basin is not a zero sum game with winners and losers. It should be possible to show that, in most cases, it is a win-win game designed to bring improved development to all collaborating countries.
Options for addressing this challenge should therefore include awareness creation about the benefits of cooperation and the cost of alternative approaches to water resources management. Roundtables need to be held on the issue for civil society, political leaders, economic planners, as well as engineers. With so many transboundary water basins in Africa, consideration should be given to the promotion of one or more transboundary water basin associations to facilitate exchange of experience.
Already there are a few transboundary water basin organizations in Africa, the most recent being the Nile Basin Initiative. Others are the Niger Basin Authority and the Lake Chad Basin Commission. A review of the experience with the existing basin organizations in the continent would provide lessons on what works and what does not. Such lessons could form the basis for the formulation of guidelines on the governance of transboundary water basins.
Regional integration in Africa could facilitate and strengthen transboundary water basin organizations. Conversely, transboundary water basin organizations could serve as an instrument for sub-regional and regional integration. Hence, the challenge posed by the multiplicity of transboundary water basins is one whose resolution could have some beneficial side effects.
Access to Water for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation
Africa has failed to achieve coverage targets for drinking water supply and sanitation for a long time. There are a number of reasons for this. One is simply that the expansion of services has not matched the rapid growth of population.
A particular challenge lies in the organizational arrangements, particularly in rural areas. In urban areas, municipal and industrial water service deliveries are usually combined and commercial uses can help support social needs. This is not the case in rural areas where such a combination is usually not feasible, save where water supply can be combined with agricultural water supply, to attain economies of scale, as well as institutional advantages, when the same personnel responsible for agricultural water supply also assume responsibility for rural water supply.
Perhaps the key constraint however is inadequate financing to support expansion and operation of services to both rural and urban poor. This is a factor linked to the current state of economic development in Africa which means that at both household and national level, there are simply inadequate resources to afford such services. Where some resources exist, as for example in the urban areas, mechanisms have been found to allow the extension of services to the urban poor. There are successful examples in which institutional strategies have been introduced to allow partnerships between utilities and small-scale independent community-based suppliers.
In most African countries, the challenge is to address the needs of the poor while sustaining services to economic sectors. A policy of providing free water supply to low income communities has recently been introduced in South Africa but is dependent on sufficient resources from the public budget which may limit its application in other African countries.
It is urgent for the financial framework for water services to be reviewed to identify their strengths and weaknesses so that recommendations for the way forward can be formulated.
Access to Water for Agriculture and Food Security
The water-related problems confronting agriculture can be divided into three groups:
- Human and institutional problems
- Natural resource-related problems
- Policy and technological problems
Human and institutional problems
The rapid growths in population and urbanization place immediate pressure on agriculture for increased production while at the same time creating new demands for water which might have to be reallocated from agricultural use.
Inadequate, technical, organisational and financial support for agriculture compounds the problems and prevents appropriate strategies from being devised and implemented.
Rapid urbanization should offer market opportunities for agriculture but often this does not occur. It is increasingly being recognized that effective management would play a significant role in addressing the problems created by the high rate of population growth.
Natural resource- related problems
Although African countries currently use only a small proportion of their water resources, rapid growth may exacerbate water scarcity in Africa. Other challenges to be addressed include:
- High rainfall variability and climate change
- Low ground water potential
- Low aquifer recharge
- Water quality deterioration
These phenomena should simply be taken into consideration during the agricultural planning and implementation process.
Policy and technological problems
For investment in agricultural improvement to be sustainable, market access and fair terms of trade are essential. Inadequate access to both local and international markets for trading African agricultural products is an important constraint to effectively developing water for agriculture. There are however many immediate problems which would have to be addressed before any improvement in market access could be exploited. These include:
- The very low efficiencies of water use in irrigation, estimated to be only 20-40 percent
- Perverse incentives inherent in common pricing systems for irrigation water based on irrigated area rather than water volumes
- Low prices of agricultural products, especially the cereals
- High and increasing construction costs of irrigation systems, now ranging between $10,000.00 and $20,000.00 per hectare for large scale systems, and $7,200.00 for medium sized systems
- Tendency to focus on self-sufficiency in food rather than on food security
Possible strategies for addressing these issues include the following:
- Use of price incentives to induce more efficient use of irrigation water
- Development of additional incentives for water conservation
- Diversifying technology and approaches to include options like:
- Rainwater harvesting
- Use of low-technology systems such as the treadle pump for vegetable cultivation
- Promoting aquaculture
- Operationalising virtual water concepts
- Promoting basin level cooperation and inter-basin water transfers
- Involving water user associations in decision making
- Introducing good water governance systems at all levels
The NEPAD land and water initiative is a key element of the agriculture and food security programme and particular effort must be made to ensure that water management professionals engage with their agricultural counterparts in this process.
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