Transboundary water management for food, energy, and environmental security in Africa

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

www.iwmi.orgWater 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


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


WRM in Africa: Some Key issues

• Continent big and diverse, but….3 points

• Low WR Development/low irrigation


Keys issues (2): Rainfall variability and Climate Change

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Some key issues (3)

• Sustainability (institutional)


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)


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


Lake Chad


Lake Chad, Climate or not?


Lake Chad


Lake Chad, so what now?


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


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


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.


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

Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/IWMI

iwmi.org

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems

wle.cgiar.org

Transboundary water management for food, energy, and environmental security in Africa

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