Home | Partners | References | Imercsa | Sardc

  Summary
Summary SADC Technical Report to inform and guide water resources policy and investments
Water, environment and poverty nexus || Objectives of the technical report || Map

The technical report on Defining and Mainstreaming Environmental Sustainability in Water Resources Management in Southern Africa showcases the threats to our precious water resources, and to the environment that sustains them, and it also offers solutions for long-term protection and appropriate utilization. Water is a limited and essential resource that urban dwellers often take for granted. In the rural areas of the region, however, people are confronted directly by its elusive nature as they are more vulnerable to the ravaging cycles of drought and flood, and the slowly degrading resource base.

Water is a necessary input for many productive activities including agriculture, forestry, industry, mining, commercial and livestock development, energy production, tourism, wildlife conservation, etc. The effective and sustainable utilization and management of water resources is an essential pre-requisite for sustaining all forms of life, improving livelihoods of the people and fostering overall socio-economic development in southern Africa. Our natural environment also needs water, if it is to continue to provide important social, ecological and hydrological functions, although we seldom consider that wider context.

Environmentally sustainable management of water resources is linked to poverty alleviation in many important ways. Strategies to reduce or alleviate poverty should not lead to further degradation of water resources or ecological functions and services. Sustainable water use and improved environmental quality should contribute directly to reducing poverty.

Water availability varies considerably across the region and within countries. Overall, it is a scarce resource, which is vulnerable to global factors such as climate variability and climate change, and to regional constraints imposed by the management of transboundary waters. Water is also vulnerable to local and national factors such as the growing demands of urban and rural populations, increasing sectoral demands, greater competition and potential for conflict over water, worsening water pollution, land and catchment degradation, destruction and encroachment on aquatic ecosystems, and proliferation of invasive weeds.

Increasingly, environmental degradation from unsustainable land and water use patterns and other anthropogenic factors is undermining and threatening the sustainability of the water resource base itself, and if this remains unchecked then it is likely to further exacerbate water scarcity in a region that has a limited endowment of water.

Although awareness about environment has increased since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, the operational integration of environmental quality objectives, economic efficiency principles, and social equity goals in water resources planning and management decision-making remains a major weakness to be addressed in water resources policy and institutional reforms and water resources development.

Since the majority of the people in southern Africa depend on and derive their livelihoods directly from natural resources, the region has placed a high priority on the need “to achieve sustainable utilization of natural resources and effective protection of the environment” and has enshrined this priority as a policy objective in the 1992 Treaty of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Compared to most developing regions of the world, SADC is ahead of the curve in the search for environmentally sustainable solutions for managing its limited and fragile water resources. However, much needs to be done to have in place both an operationally effective policy and an institutional framework, and practices that reflect effective integration of sustainable management principles. The SADC Environment and Land Management Sector (ELMS), with the SADC Water Sector and partners,1 commissioned the preparation of the technical report on Defining and Mainstreaming Environmental Sustainability in Water Resources Management in Southern Africa to contribute to the public policy discourse and to support the development of practical approaches for the integration of environmental quality objectives in the planning and management of the water sector.

The technical report addresses a key SADC objective, “to achieve sustainable utilization of natural resources and effective protection of the environment”, and supports the integration of environmental quality objectives into the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses and the Regional Strategic Action Plan (RSAP) for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management in the SADC Countries (1999-2004). The 336-page, full colour report is also a SADC contribution to the United Nation’s World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in August 2002 and to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The central messages are that:

  • effective development and effective management of water resources are essential for sustainable growth and poverty reduction in the SADC region; and
  • sustainable water resources management must balance between the short term needs of the people for their social and economic development and the protection of the natural resource base.
The specific intention of the technical report is to provide a framework for defining tools for sustainable management of water resources and for operationalizing complex concepts related to the impacts on the water environment of changes in the amount, timing and quality of water resulting from direct water development activities, as well as indirect land use and other activities within the river basin. The report is based on an analysis of best practices from the region.

The implementation of the recommendations of this report will contribute towards the mainstreaming of environmental sustainability in water resources management in the SADC region.

The report has been prepared by specialists from the SADC region,2 and they include environmental planners and managers, natural resources economists, river scientists, freshwater ecologists, civil engineers, biologists, land-use specialists, wetlands specialists, hydrologists, water resources management specialists, political scientists, sociologists, and journalists. The draft chapters were presented for review to the National Technical Committee members of both SADC ELMS and SADC Water Sector at a workshop in Harare from 28-29 October 1999, and to a scientific advisory committee. More than 65 workshop participants at the workshop included regional experts from governments, academia and non-governmental organizations. The final draft was peer reviewed by specialists from the region, the SADC ELMS and SADC Water Sector, and the World Bank.

The target audiences of this report include water resources and environmental policy makers, planners, managers and decision-makers from the public and private sectors, and undergraduate and graduate students interested in various natural resources management disciplines. The technical report provides policy guidance and practical tools for addressing the specific challenges related to the water, environment and poverty nexus. This is a short summary of its contents and objectives.

Water, environment and poverty nexus top
The technical report is based on two fundamental assumptions that link water and environment to poverty alleviation.

  • First, strategies to reduce poverty should not lead to further degradation of water resources or ecological functions and services.
  • Second, sustainable water use and improved environmental quality should contribute to reducing poverty.
Table 1 summarizes the elements of a basic framework for linking water, environment, and poverty. A broad definition of poverty is adopted, that extends well beyond income and consumption, to include inequality, health, opportunity, livelihoods and vulnerability.

Table 1    Linkages between Water, Environment and Porverty
Dimensions of poverty Examples of water and environmental linkages
Income and Consumption Access to water for productive use, access to natural resources, sustainable growth
Inequality and Equity Secure tenure and access to natural resources, water rights and entitlements
Sustainable Livelihoods Sustainable land and water use practices
Health Water quality, safe drinking water and sanitation, protection against water-borne disease
Security and Vulnerability Improved disaster preparedness and response, water harvesting and conservation
Inclusion and Empowerment Participation, devolution of ownership, rights and responsibilities to water users, community groups, basin organizations, local governments
Table 1.1 in Technical Report

Understanding the biophysical, social, and socio-economic linkages is critical to addressing the environment, water, and poverty nexus because in many cases it is the poor, who are most directly or indirectly dependent on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems livelihoods and wellbeing.

“Because of social and economic disadvantages, the poor often live in fringe areas, where access to potable supplies and adequate sanitation facilities is limited and where higher mortality, morbidity, and disease rates prevail. Or they live in highly vulnerable areas (floodplains and degraded watersheds), where buffering capacity to natural and anthropogenic shocks and disasters is limited. Also, poor downstream communities relying on flood recession agriculture, dry season livestock water supplies, fodder, firewood, or fishing are often left out when major upstream water allocation or urban/industrial development decisions are made without adequate considerations of downstream uses.” (Hirji and Ibrekk 2001: 2)

Objectives of the technical report top
The overall goal of the technical report is to inform the policy and decision makers about the complex biophysical, social and economic dimensions of environmental sustainability in water resources management. The report underscores the fact that sustainable management of water resources must incorporate at an operational level, the ecological, economic and social considerations into water resources planning and management decision-making. Another goal is to,

  • provide policy guidance, practical approaches and operational tools for developing and managing the region’s basic and vital resource – water – in an environmentally sustainable manner,
  • share successful lessons and experiences about environmentally sustainable water resources management practices from the region, and
  • define in operational terms the elements of “environmentally sustainable water resources management”.
A primary objective of the report is to provide information and guidance for policy makers, decision makers and water resource managers on how best to ensure the sustainable development, use and management of water resources, in ways that provide the most benefits for people, particularly the poor, while still ensuring that the water resources are protected for the benefit of future generations. This can only be achieved by paying adequate attention to the environmental aspects of water resources, and ensuring that environmental issues are brought into the mainstream of all decision-making regarding water resources. It is insufficient to address environmental issues only through Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for projects. Environmental sustainability criteria must be fully incorporated into the operational frameworks of water resources management.

The idea that management of the environment can be separated from water resources management, and that the environment competes with people for the use of water, can no longer be entertained if we are to achieve true sustainability of water resources and address poverty reduction successfully.

The report also attempts to dispel myths about water and dependent ecosystems (Box 1) in order to assist policy makers and water managers to make informed project decisions on how to address significant adverse impacts on important natural systems and livelihoods of downstream communities.

Box 1    Misconceptions about water and water-dependent ecosystems

There are a number of misconceptions about water and waterdependent ecosystems that are so widespread they are often taken as fact by various sectors and individuals, including in some cases, at high levels of decision-making:
  • That water originates from pipes, and not from watersheds, springs and aquifers.
  • That wetlands are wastelands with no social or economic value to society.
  • That freshwater biodiversity is not important to the region.
  • That water flowing into the sea is wasted water.
  • That downstream impacts of major water projects are insignificant and therefore should be ignored.
  • That environmental management is a concern of outsiders and not of the region’s people.
  • That environmental management provides few benefits to society, but is costly and poses a huge economic burden.
  • That existing Environmental Impact Assessment policies and laws are sufficient for integrating environmental sustainability criteria into water resources planning and management decision-making.
Box 1.1 in technical report
  1. Partners include IUCN-The World Conservation Union Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA), the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) India Musokotwane Environment Resource Centre for Southern Africa (IMERCSA), the Africa Water Resources Management Initiative (AWRMI) and the Environment Department of the World Bank, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
  2. Specific numerical data on pollution, water use, water scarcity and other related parameters were derived by individual experts on the basis of information that was available and may therefore vary from some of the official sanctioned numbers. The authors and editors have tried to use official data where available and they take full responsibility for other data which cannot be attributed to SADC.
top

Comments and queries regarding the page, contact the Web Applications Developer.