Water seminarBrussels, July 2010

Lessons on transboundary cooperation

A. Liebaert, DG DEV/B/1

Transboundary basins - contextTransboundary 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

•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

The transboundary The transboundary water resources water resources challenge in Africachallenge in Africa

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 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 access rights

• Institution building - Several levels

Water services

• Multipurpose water development & storage

• Watershed restoration & management

Service provision including:• Energy production

• Primary production

• Industry & domestic use & treatment

• Ecosystem services Granit, 2010

Lessons from the Nile

• 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

Nile Basin geography

& challenges

Irrigated Agriculture

Flood mngmt.

WatershedManagement

RegionalTransmissionSystem

LocalCommunityInfrastructure

HydrometSystem

Hydropower

From Single Output …

Growth PoleInvestments

to Multiple Interests (WB, Fields)

Energy for growth

Fisheries & aquatic ecosystems

From sharing water (quantity) to sharing benefits - incentives for cooperation

Environmental: to the rivere.g. water quality & biodiversity

Direct economic: from the riverproductive use e.g irrigation

Reducing costs: because of rivere.g. conflicts

Indirect economic: beyond the riverregional 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

SVPApplied Training Project (APT)

Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project (NTEAP)

Efficient Water Use for Agricultural Production (EWUAP)

Confidence Building and Stakeholder Involvement (CBSI)

Socio-economic Development and Benefit Sharing (SDBS)

Shared Vision Program Coordination Project (SVP-C)

Regional Power Trade (RPT)

ENTROAddis

NBI SECRETARIAT

Entebbe

Water Resources Planning and Management (WRPM)

NELSAP-CUKigali

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

Note: One donor per bullet

Source: GTZ (2007): Donor activity in transboundary water cooperation in Africa

Financial support for river and lake basins

Donor Support – ODA to transboundary water

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