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How to beat Africas water crisis

By Michel Camdessus, Special to CNN
Editors note: Michel Camdessus is former managing director of the International Monetary Fund and a member of
the U.N. Secretary Generals Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. This is the first in a new series of articles for
GPS by members of the Africa Progress Panel[1], a foundation chaired by Kofi Annan.
Recent discoveries of water reserves[2] under some of Africas mightiest deserts raise hopes for quenching
African thirst. But the reality is much more grim. From parched desert to tropical forest, roughly 40 percent
of Africans[3], mostly the rural poor, will not get access to clean water any time soon, a fact that exacerbates
poverty, hunger, and disease. Indeed, every year, dirty water kills an estimated 750,000 African children[4]
under the age of five.
And while rich countries worry about obesity, recent droughts in the Sahel and Horn of Africa have forced
millions of Africans to flee their ancestral lands in search of food. To complicate matters further, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects climate change to hit Africa harder than anywhere else.
Meanwhile, a doubling of the continents population in the first quarter of this century is set to significantly
increase demand for Africas water too, risking groundwater depletion and a gradual destruction of precious
ecosystems.
Ahead of this years World Water Week, the Africa Progress Panel recommends several priorities for African
water management.
First, get serious about water, which is central to several critical challenges from health and hunger to energy
and security. Water is more than a commodity its a source of life and livelihoods. Every culture in the
world recognizes water as the source of all life, and yet the international community has held back from
giving access to water the prominence and backing it deserves.
The United Nations took a major step forward when it officially recognized[5] water as a fundamental human
right in 2010, but aid still falls far short of the levels required to deliver clean water for all.
Besides killing Africas children, dirty water can reduce school attendance, especially for girls, cause political
instability, and constrain productivity. As we note in this years Africa Progress Report[6], Africa loses an
estimated $28 billion every year through lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
European governments realized in the 19th century that failing to invest in clean water and sanitation was
the ultimate false economy. But, in urban slums across Africa, unclean water and lack of sanitation is still a
source of disease.
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Water inequalities compound social tensions too. Poor households in the slums of cities such as Lagos or
Nairobi are paying more for their water than the rich, who are served by water utilities. Unequal access means
that poorer urban residents pay as much as 50 times more per liter of water[7] than their richer neighbors. In
the Nairobi slum of Kibera, for example, some of the worlds poorest people buy some of its most expensive
water. Meanwhile, sprinklers water the greens of Nairobis nearby golf club.
That brings me to the second priority. Over recent years, we have seen whole swathes of Africas agricultural
land and water resources[8] bought up by foreign investors. Governments in the region must stop the land
grabs and put Africas food security front and center of their national priorities.
With oil and food prices rising, many foreign investors have viewed Africas unused agricultural land as a
high-profit opportunity for food and biofuel production. One influential recent report[9] told investors that
Africa has as many as 600 million hectares of uncultivated arable land 60 percent of the global total.
Indeed, between 2000 and 2011, Africa saw 948 land deals, covering 124 million hectares, an area larger than
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined. Many of these land deals involve countries along the
Nile and Niger rivers, whose water will be used to irrigate thirsty agricultural schemes.
But for communities throughout Africa, land is more than just an economic asset. It represents life,
livelihoods, culture and identity. And modern history is littered with disastrous attempts to maximize
agricultural production by diverting major rivers and lakes. In the middle of a Central Asian desert, ships sit
abandoned where the Aral Sea used to be before Soviet planners diverted its tributaries for cotton.
Africas farmers and communities need protection against large-scale speculative land purchases, which
often result in the eviction of smallholders, sometimes by force, and typically with minimal compensation.
Such land deals should be carefully assessed and a moratorium considered until legislation can protect
smallholder farmers and communities. The African Union should develop a framework for managing foreign
investment in agriculture. African leaders should also invest in water management systems to reduce waste
and inefficiencies.
The third priority is to manage water resources in a way that takes account of the complexity of the issue,
including gender, inequality, and ecosystems.
Throughout Africa, women and girls often carry responsibility for a households water supply and sanitation.
In several countries, most notably in East Africa, more than a quarter of the population[10] spends more than
half an hour per round trip to fetch water. More time finding water means less time and energy for other
activities such as childcare, income generation, and school attendance.
Fourth, get talking. Governments must build relationships with each other to prevent water stress from
turning into conflicts.
Water is the ultimate trans-boundary resource, flowing across national borders. Throughout Africa, countries
share water sources such as rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Countries that build dams[11] or invest in largescale irrigation schemes need to recognize that their actions will have consequences downstream. As the
stresses on water systems mount, the risk increases that competing claims will fuel a drift towards water
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wars.
Indeed, land grabs have the potential to reinforce these stresses. The non-profit organization GRAIN
calculates that land deals with foreign investors will require water from the Nile River to irrigate an
additional 10 million hectares in five countries. The same organization quotes[12] the U.N.s Food and
Agriculture Organization as putting the maximum irrigation potential of the entire Nile basin at 8 million
hectares.
More effective water management is possible.
Since 1994, for example, Angola, Botswana, and Namibia have been jointly managing water use from the
1,100 kilometer Okavango River that runs through all three countries. The permanent Okavango river basin
water commission (OKACOM[13]) provides an excellent forum to help prevent cross-border water tensions
from reaching boiling point. Beyond the other obvious benefits, transboundary water agreements are key to
reducing the probability of water-related conflicts.
The fifth priority must be new and innovative ways to finance water reform.
Africa needs significantly more than the roughly $ 2.6 billion[14] it gets at present. That may be a tall order in
these fiscally straitened times. But it will be a small price to pay for investments that could protect millions
from hunger, poverty, and disease and help put the worlds poorest region on a pathway to greater selfreliance.

Links
1. http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/20/us-africa-water-idUSBRE83J0W520120420
3. http://www.unicef.org/eapro/JMP-2010Final.pdf
4. http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/apr2012
5. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36308
6. http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/apr2012
7. http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/pdfs/SOWC%202012-Executive%20Summary_EN_13Mar2012.pdf
8. http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/26/land-grabs-the-new-scramble-for-africa/
9. http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Productivity_Competitiveness_and_Growth/Lions_on_the_move
10. http://www.unicef.org/eapro/JMP-2010Final.pdf
11. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/31/business/ethiopia-grand-renaissance-dam/index.html
12. http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4516
13. http://www.okacom.org/
14. http://www.oecd.org/environment/environmentanddevelopment/aidtowaterandsanitation.htm

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