The Dialogue and Training were organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It brought together basin organisations, national water authorities, and development partners.
In her opening remarks delivered on behalf of the GEF Secretariat, Konstantina Toli, IW: LEARN Project Coordinator at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO, echoed GEF’s commitment to transboundary water management for more than 30 years.
“ The GEF is committed to promoting transboundary cooperation, and has tangibly done so for more than 30 years through projects’ grants that set the foundations for transboundary cooperation and the support to the river basin organizations” she said. “The GEF International Waters has a project portfolio of more than 500 projects worth USD 3 billion, several of these being in Africa, in some of the most important water bodies of Africa, in big river basins, in lakes, in groundwater aquifers”.
Matthias Reusing First Counsellor - Policy Advisor for Agriculture, Environment, Digital Transformation - Delegation of the European Union to the African Union (AU), underscored the importance of water investments and strengthened climate resilience in safeguarding ecosystems, stabilizing economies and supporting livelihoods.
“Through the Team Europe Initiative on transboundary water management in Africa, the European financial institutions and its Member States are jointly working to scale up investments, particularly those with transboundary relevance, and in doing so are contributing to enabling sustainable economic development and promoting, and deepening the regional integration across the continent”.
On her part Jihane El Gaouzi, Head of the Sustainable Environment Division at the African Union Commission, commended the convening of the pan-African transboundary dialogue and the training, which provided a platform to facilitate knowledge and experience, sharing linkages and synergies and enhancing water investments. She was speaking on behalf of Harsen Nyambe, Director, of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy (SEBE) at the African Union.
“Africa's 63 international river basins cover about 64% of the continent's land area and contain 93% of its total surface water resources”, she said. “These transboundary basins require continental and regional dialogues on climate change and its impact on the water sector, with the aim of adopting appropriate adaptation and climate resilience measures, including support in developing continental resilient water investment projects, pipelines and concepts”
The Dialogue discussed the challenges affecting transboundary water cooperation on the continent. These include, among others, insufficient institutional and technical capacities of transboundary basin organizations, discrepancies among regional and national priorities as well as lack of and divergences in data sharing protocols.
The meeting provided a platform for cross-fertilization and experience-sharing among regional and national stakeholders including regional economic communities (RECS), Pan-African organizations shared watercourse institutions, and countries. It also unpacked key issues regarding transboundary waters management, existing official and technical processes and activities to enable cooperation. Priority transboundary water resources management-related needs in different basins and aquifers in Africa were also noted. Through the Dialogue, available technical or financial support to address these needs was identified, while participants’ capacities in Transboundary Water Management (TWM) and understanding of steps and means to advance transboundary cooperation for the management of shared water resources on the continent were enhanced.
The outcomes of the training and dialogue will inform the work of the African Union Commission (AUC) on Water Resources Management, key regional policy processes and flagship programs and Global Environment Facility (GEF) supported interventions.
Under the theme “Priorities, entry points and opportunities for enhancing water investments in Africa at transboundary and national levels”, the event aimed to align strategic planning, build capacity for national climate-resilient water investment programming, and support project concept development for access to climate financing.
The events are supported by the AU AIP Multi-country GCF Readiness Support; the Blue Africa Transboundary Water Management Action which is financed by the European Union and the German Technical Cooperation (GiZ); and the Global Environment Facility's International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (GEF IW: LEARN).