Transboundary Water Management Workshop held in Johannesburg, South Africa from April 29-30, 2014.

1. Transboundary Water Management for food,
energy, environmental security in Africa:
Selected Issues
Jonathan Lautze, IWMI
China-Africa Transboundary Water Management Workshop
Johannesburg, 29-30 April 2014

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Water for a food-secure world
Overview
• Key issues in transboundary water management in Africa
• Linkages to food, energy, environment
• examples
• Entry points for engagement
• Questions

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Water for a food-secure world
TWRM & WRM in Africa
• Much WRM in Africa in some way TWRM
• Transboundary basins cover more than
60 percent of continent; also
transboundary aquifers
• Continent is big and diverse
– Conditions and issues vary

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Water for a food-secure world
WRM in Africa: Some Key issues
• Continent big and diverse, but….3 points
• Low WR Development/low irrigation

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Water for a food-secure world
Keys issues (2): Rainfall variability and Climate Change
0
50
100
150
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250
0
5
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35
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
m
°

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Water for a food-secure world
Some key issues (3)
• Sustainability (institutional)

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Water for a food-secure world
So why add T to WRM ?
• Transboundary issue is important with basin-level (bigger) issues
• Large-scale development
• Transboundary issues often manifested through variability
– important to consider who gets what when (in which country)
– With more water control, more options for who gets what
– Seasonal and interannual water availability is key
• Triggers the need for cooperation, institutions (what are
institutions?—come back to this)

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Water for a food-secure world
TWRM in Africa: highlighting links through examples
• TWRM rarely end in itself; it is a means to food, energy
environmental security
Country Power Production Irrigation Navigation Recession
Agriculture
Guinea Potentially high None None None
Mali High Low Very Hgh Low
Mauritania Very High Very High High High
Senegal Très haute Very High High High
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1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Flood extent Fish catches Birds counted

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Water for a food-secure world
Lake Chad

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Water for a food-secure world
Lake Chad

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Water for a food-secure world
Lake Chad, Climate or not?

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Water for a food-secure world
Lake Chad

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Water for a food-secure world
Lake Chad, so what now?

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Water for a food-secure world
Lake Chad, so what now?
• Need to figure out what is happening?
• How much is due to increased withdrawal and in which
countries and sectors? What are options for reducing that
withdrawal?
• Need to identify the goal?
– Restore the Lake, why?
– Restore the 1963 lake? Or 1974
lake?
– Need to strike up/downstream
balance, and strike inter-country equity balance

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Water for a food-secure world
Institutions: complex entry point for engagement?
• Coping with challenges, and fostering major WR development
triggers need for institutions
• institutions facilitate cooperative development
– benefit-share
– cope with variability—temporal dimension is key
• What again are institutions?
– On paper, transboundary water agreements
– Africa has more than 150 agreements
– Agreements apply to more than 19 of 59 basins
– Should not be overlooked

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Water for a food-secure world
Institutions as entry point
• Achieving meaningful institutional development can be
challenge
• Institutional devt as end and means?
• How to encourage institutional development as means to
addressing challenges highlighted earlier?
– Rainfall variablity, promoting development, etc.

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Water for a food-secure world
Institutions as entry point
• Getting institutions to move often takes more than
highlighting win-win benefits
• Meaningful institutional development often requires
reducing fear of risks and strengthening capacity
• Reducing risks, strengtening capacity, may be role for
IWMI
– Draw on IWMI capacity and third- party role

18. Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/IWMI
iwmi.org
CGIARResearch Programon
Water,Land andEcosystems
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