Integrated water resources management: African perspectives

Abstract

The importance of water resources for sustainable development for African countries has been recognised at the highest level of the African Heads of States through the Sharm el-Sheikh declarations calling for the equitable and sustainable use, and promotion of integrated management and development, of national and shared water resources in Africa. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) was adopted since the adoption of the Africa Water Vision 2025 and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (2002), which called for the preparation and implementation of IWRM plans. The crucial role of water resources for socio-economic development in Africa led to the creation of African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) as the African voice and leadership on water and sanitation in Africa with the key objective of mobilising countries, regional institutions and partners to address in a sustainable and coherence way the water challenges in Africa. The shared nature of water resources in Africa with more than 80 shared river basins and lakes and at least 60 transboundary aquifers systems led to the establishment of various entities at national, subregional and regional levels for the promotion of sustainable water resources management through IWRM. This paper presents an overview of the status of IWRM in Africa based on the different published documents including institutional, knowledge base and capacity building aspects and includes the main characteristics of water resources and related challenges. The paper calls for the implementation of a true IWRM in Africa considering climate change, integrating surface and groundwater, cultural and water quality issues. The paper presents also a summary of two case studies on the implementation of IWRM. The first case study is on a large transboundary basin, the Niger basin shared by nine countries, which have adopted a shared vision through a participatory approach and the preparation of a long-term Investment Development Plan for the basin, based on a comprehensive analysis of the challenges facing the basin. The second case study is on the Densu basin, a national basin in Ghana and one of the most stressed in the country, where pollution is one of the key challenges. The application of the IWRM concept has increased awareness and led to the mobilisation of key stakeholders to contribute to the reduction in the level of pollution of the basin.