Water seminar
Brussels, July 2010
Lessons on transboundary cooperation
A. Liebaert, DG DEV/B/1
Transboundary basins - context
• Water (surface & ground) crosses boundaries
Political & physical boundaries at local, national, &
regional levels
• Management of water at the regional level is in itself a
public good - Flood & drought protection, water quality
management, ecosystem services
• Sharing benefits from water development vs sharing
physical quantities of water
– Rationale choice in water scarce regions
• Cooperation on TB waters can support wider regional
integration objectives
The transboundary
water resources
challenge in Africa
•Africa’s 63 transboundary
river basins account for:
- 93% of the resource
- 77% of the population
- 61% of the surface area
•Climate variability
•Colonial legacy - borders &
boundaries
•Regional integration
agenda
Development - key clusters of tangible benefits
1. Hydropower
•Storage for
hydropower
•Electricity trade
(power markets)
2. Primary production
•Agriculture
•Forestry
•Bioenergy
3. Industry & Urbanization
•Domestic use
•Industrial use
•Navigation
•Flood & drought
protection
4. Environmental services
• Water quality
management
•Biodiversity &
conservation
•Tourism
• Fisheries
SIWI, CSIR, DPA 2008
Water activities – adding value
Water
information
• Monitoring & data
collection of all raw
water flows
• Classification of
water systems
• Water information to
support decision
making
Water
governance
• Water policy choices
to guide water use
- Eg cost recovery
• Planning water use
in society
-Eg tradoffs
Water services
• Multipurpose water
development & storage
• Watershed restoration
& management
Service provision
including:
• Energy production
• Water access rights
• Primary production
• Institution building
- Several levels
Granit, 2010
• Industry & domestic
use & treatment
• Ecosystem services
Lessons from the Nile
Nile Basin geography
& challenges
• 10 countries: Burundi, D.R.
Congo, Egypt, (Eritrea),
Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda,
Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
• 300 m people in the basin
(Egypt and Ethiopia largest)
• 600 m 2025
• Poverty: 4 of 10 poorest
• Climate variability
• Landscape vulnerability
• Limited infrastructure
From Single Output …
to Multiple Interests (WB, Fields)
Regional
Transmission
System
Energy for growth
Hydromet
System
Fisheries &
aquatic ecosystems
Hydropower
Growth Pole
Investments
Watershed
Management
Irrigated Agriculture
Flood
mngmt.
Local
Community
Infrastructure
From sharing water (quantity) to sharing
benefits - incentives for cooperation
Environmental: to the river
e.g. water quality & biodiversity
Direct economic: from the river
productive use e.g irrigation
Reducing costs: because of river
e.g. conflicts
Indirect economic: beyond the river
regional integration
Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)
Shared Vision – Shared Goals
“to achieve sustainable socio-economic development
through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the
common Nile Basin water resources”
• Building Trust
• Agreeing to work together in a structured way
• Cooperating through accelerated investments
Yet after 10 years, negotiations remain centered around
Old Perceptions
Applied Training Project (APT)
SVP
Nile Transboundary Environmental
Action Project (NTEAP)
NBI
SECRETARIAT
Entebbe
ENTRO
Addis
Water Resources Planning and
Management (WRPM)
Confidence Building and Stakeholder
Involvement (CBSI)
Socio-economic Development and Benefit
Sharing (SDBS)
Efficient Water Use for Agricultural
Production (EWUAP)
Shared Vision Program Coordination
Project (SVP-C)
Regional Power Trade (RPT)
NELSAP-CU
Kigali
Potential for ‘cooperative’ investment
• Sufficient water for multi-purpose development in a cooperative
framework
• Hydropower development through the Blue Nile storage will have
no lasting adverse downstream impacts provided an agreed filling
strategy takes into account downstream needs
• The planned aspirations for water withdrawal for consumptive use
can be met with only minor impacts on reliability
• There are significant opportunities for water conservation measure
in higher rainfall zones (e.g,. In reservoirs, lakes/wetlands and
irrigation)
• Climate change is a significant issue facing the Basin. There is
need to develop credible methods to examine possible future
impacts.
The cost of non-cooperation
• Risk for negative impacts on human security and
human development
• Unpredictability, less preparedness for floods
and drought
• Mobilising funds for multi-purpose investments
and infrastructure is hard without co-operation
• Risk for increased tension and conflict
Lessons from donor cooperation
in transboundary basins
in Africa
Donor Support – ODA to transboundary water
Financial support for river
and lake basins
Note: One donor per bullet
Source: GTZ (2007): Donor activity in transboundary
water cooperation in Africa
Challenges for Implementing
Paris Declaration at regional level
• Donor Coordination across basins is weak
• Donor coordination around each institution is
weak with only a few exceptions (SADC,
Nile)
• Potential for increased coordination through
mechanisms such as lead donor
arrangements, basket funding, TA-pooling,
etc
Support to TBW - Issues
• Improved predictability needed
• Alignment and closer links between regional
and national support programs
• Lack of investment-ready proposals
• Capacity development
• Strengthen institutional framework and planning
processes
Lessons from EC support to
transboundary basins in Africa
EC support to TBW
• Regional programming : no priority for TBW
• EUWI/Africa-EU Partnership :
• 5 basins (Niger, Volta, L. Chad, Kagera, Orange)
• EUWF : direct agreement (NBI, Niger, AWF/Congo),
calls for proposals (Niger, Sénégal, ANBO)
• Infrastructure TF : only one out of … - case of
Lake Victoria
Lessons
• TIME …
• Ownership : no demand channeled through Regional
organisations
• Reinforcement of an institutional architecture (AUC,
AMCOW, RECs, RBOs) to prioritise TBW in regional
programmes
• Need for ad-hoc donor driven support – to strengthen
RBOs and processes
• Complementarity of regional – national WRM plans
• Project preparation – pooling of resources for large scale
investment