In many developing countries including southern Africa, the lack of mainstreaming environment in water resources management and development is threatening the water resources and the environment in which the resource exists.

Conscious of the need to balance water and nature, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) adopted as one of its policy objectives the need to achieve “sustainable utilization of natural resources and effective protection of the environment”.

And in order to realize this policy objective, SADC and its partners have produced a technical report entitled Defining and Mainstreaming Environmental Sustainability in Water Resources Management in Southern Africa.

The first of its kind, the book was launched by the environment and water ministers from Lesotho in their capacity as chairpersons of the respective ministerial committees of SADC. The launch took place on 31 August at the ongoing World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Monyane Moleleki and Lebohang Ntsinya who respectively are Lesotho’s ministers of water and environment, hailed the successful partnership involving the SADC Environment and Land Management Sector and the Water Sector on one hand, and 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 and the Environment Department of the World Bank and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The two ministers said the technical report is a SADC contribution to the world summit and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The launch of the book is in line with the theme of the Water Dome, one of the key parallel events to the world summit which is being attended by over 100 world leaders and tens of thousands of representatives of business, NGOs and other stakeholder groups.

Published in full colour, the 336-page book is a comprehensive guide to mainstreaming environmental sustainability in water resources management in southern Africa. It was compiled by environment and water experts from the region to contribute to public policy debate and to support the development of practical approaches for the integration of environmental quality objectives in water resources planning and management.

It supports the integration of environment into the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses, and the Regional Strategic Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management in the SADC Countries (1999-2004).

The key messages in the report are that:

• effective development and management of water resources are essential for sustainable growth and poverty reduction in SADC; 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.