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Water does not specifically appear in
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change language
on adaptation. There is however no doubt of the central and
cross-cutting role water resource management plays in climate
adaptation. In essence, water is central to development and climate
change impacts on both water and development.
In the development context, water and its effective management is
essential to the achievement of a number of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and poverty reduction generally. It is also
a critical factor in promoting and sustaining economic development.
Effective water resource management is therefore critical in
promoting water security, human health, food security, energy and
resilient natural systems.
Sub-Saharan Africa has long been plagued by climate variability with
climate change already evidenced in increases in both the frequency
and intensity of extreme events such as floods and droughts. Changes
in the pattern of rainfall and temperature will directly also lead
to changes in water demand, availability and quality. These will
impact upon human security, food security as well as safe water
supplies and sanitation.
Lack of infrastructure and weak water governance underpins the
continents vulnerability. The underdevelopment of water
infrastructure reduces the region’s ability to effectively manage
its hydrology, or more specifically, the management of the movement,
distribution and quality of water in the region. Low infrastructural
capacity also reduces the inherent resilience of the region’s
natural systems. Investments in infrastructure and water resources
management are therefore required to build resilience and adaptive
capacity. In addition, climate change is predicted to have many
indirect water-related impacts, which include additional
infrastructure investments required to protect human settlements and
industrial activities, the salinisation of groundwater as a result
of rising sea levels, the aggravation of water quality problems and
health impacts caused by increased activity of water-related disease
vectors in many sub-regions.
Over dependence on rain-fed agriculture increases the vulnerability
of our economies and communities to a changing climate. This in turn
means the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of our people are held
hostage by nature. Increasing the water storage capacity for food
production is therefore a key priority for sub-Saharan Africa.
The water, climate change and development nexus becomes particularly
clear in an analysis of the impacts of climate change on the MDGs
five years before 2015. The continent is way behind in meeting the
MDGs, and climate change and variability threatens to undo the
progress that has been made and roll back the gains in the fight
against poverty. All MDGs are in turn affected by climate and it is
expected that on the whole, climate change worsens the position of
the MDGs. The knock-on effect on poverty is seen mostly through the
impact of climate change on the region’s income status, which is
primarily supported by climate sensitive production sectors such as
rain-fed agriculture and livestock.
The water sector has the responsibility to ensure that the links
between water, development and climate change are not only
understood, but that appropriate responses are identified, developed
and financed. It is therefore important that adaptation funding must
be made available for strengthening water resources management in
order to respond to climate change impacts.
The water, energy and climate change nexus is also useful in
understanding the cause and effect links between water, development
and climate change. Whilst the key message from the body of
international science is that energy is the focus for mitigation,
and water is the focus for adaptation, water is needed for sustained
energy production. In much of Africa, constant water supply is
specifically needed for hydropower production and expansion. A
perhaps less direct but no less important energy, water and climate
change issue is evident in the region’s biodiversity and broader
environmental management: deforestation is disturbing the
equilibrium of many of the region’s natural systems, affecting
natural resources as well as many of the region’s livelihoods that
are so dependent on available eco-system goods and services.
Providing an alternative source of energy supply is one of the few
options in effectively regaining control over often-rampant
deforestation.
It has become clear that water is the medium through which many of
the impacts of climate change will be felt – and that these impacts
are particularly felt in even further compromised human security.
Because of this, water resource management will have to be
significantly strengthened to ensure that affected communities are
able to adapt to such change. Specifically, this means that the
region’s water sector will need to play a proactive role in making
tools available for appraising adaptation and mitigation options
across multiple water-dependent sectors, such as energy, land use,
nature conservation, health and agriculture and food security. This
will mean the adoption of both water efficient practices and
technologies that are already considered essential in Integrated
Water Resource Management.
In conclusion, if the sector is to respond effectively to the water,
development and the climate change challenge, it must promote
natural systems resilience, increase infrastructural capacity,
improve water governance and improve institutional adaptive
capacity. Institutional arrangements between water managers,
disaster managers and those communities that are on the receiving
end of increased and more intense extreme events should be
strengthened. This means that for us in the water sector, we must
increasingly engage effectively with other sectors.
By: Buyelwa
Sonjica, Minister of Water and Environment Affairs (South Africa);
President of the African Ministers' Council on Water
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