By Neo Kolane
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Shared Watercourses is key to guiding member states to manage transboundary water management in the region.
This was stated by the senior programme officer at the SADC Secretariat Water Division, Dr Patrice Kabeya, when officially opening a week-long East African Community (EAC) Integrated Water Resources Management study tour to the SADC region which kicked off in Maseru on Monday this week.
The study tour will see representatives from the EAC and SADC regions exchange knowledge for effective transboundary water resources management and climate risks informed approaches when managing water.
The study tour will see delegates visiting the ReNOKA watershed rehabilitation through livelihoods and eco-system-based approaches project in the lowlands and Katse Dam in the highlands.
Kabeya said diplomacy is very important when trying to manage transboundary water resources.
“After the COVID-19 pandemic the landscape has changed. Within the water management paradigm, water resources are shared unequally among regions.
“This is where the SADC protocol comes in to guide member states to manage transboundary water management. Water cooperation can be sustainable, our role is to support member states to manage water effectively,” he noted.
The executive secretary of Orange-Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM), Lenka Thamae, told participants that the tour is an opportunity to inform audiences about water management.
Thamae said in 2000 SADC countries adopted a framework on working together and cooperating on the management of water shared by more than one country.
Entities such as ORASECOM were established as a result of the implementation of the SADC protocol for shared water resources.
“We have a lot of things in common in Africa, best practices in Southern Africa and also all the Lake Victoria countries are also part of the Nile Basin,” he indicated.
Thamae also stated that SADC had learned how to empower women in decision making platforms in water cooperation from the Nile Basin.
“We have copied the model laid out by the Women in Water Diplomacy Network on the River Nile. However, more work needs to be done on gender mainstreaming. How to empower women and mainstream gender more effectively is of key importance. We are formulating a strategy guide for women in the water diplomacy network,” he added.
The Orange-Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM) is responsible managing the resources of the Orange-Senqu River basin, a transboundary resource shared by Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa.
For her part, the deputy executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), Coletha Ruhamya underscored the relevance of the study tour as it relates to the organisation’s mandate and sustainable development agenda.
Ruhamya said managing water resources means thinking out of the box in light of many issues affecting the water sector, climate change, water needs and many more challenges that need to be learned.
“We are here to learn from experience and the challenges we have encountered. We also seek to foster partnership with a similar mandate; to drive the sustainable development goal and showcase one another’s platforms and networks. Thirdly, we bring together experts to achieve similar goals.
“We need to generate new ideas and policy proposals. We are going to learn and support goals and strengthen dialogues, so this is an opportunity for the East African Community and partner states to learn a lot.
“This is south-south cooperation meant to support knowledge and change initiatives in the countries of the global south. Working together is a way to achieve our goal. Clear actions and milestones will be monitored,” she noted.
The Lake Victoria Basin Commission Integrated Water Resource Management and Development in the Lake Victoria Basin aims to promote and facilitate the implementation of sustainable development, management and equitable utilisation of water resources.
