Tentative (16.11.06)
PROTECTING AND MANAGING AFRICA’S GROUNDWATER
RESOURCES AS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OCTOBER 2006
KAMPALA RECOMMENDATIONS
A. BACKGROUND
The Pan-African Conference held in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia in December 2003 brought together
African water ministers, under the umbrella of Africa’s Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW),
and the international support groups. Their aim was to develop strategies for achieving the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) targets and the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) for Africa. Key African water concerns were addressed in this context. The ministers
recognised the increasing role and contribution of groundwater abstracted from shallow hand-dug
wells and from deeper public boreholes as key to improving livelihoods, growing food on smallscale irrigation and thus providing additional resources to improve food security and poverty
alleviation. Its role especially in the urban centres where it provides sanitation and drinking water
as an important source of relatively low cost and generally high quality municipal and private
domestic water supply and in both rural – urban areas where it provides improved health benefits,
producing energy, encouraging industrial growth and ensuring ecosystem integrity with its goods
and services.
Like most other renewable natural resources, groundwater has come under increasing human
development pressures during this century. Because of its unique role and its largely unseen
nature, groundwater and the aquifers that host it are particularly vulnerable to contamination
through mismanagement.
This situation was brought to the international attention through a five (5) year UNEP/DEWA and
UNESCO/IHP assessment project carried out at selected sites in 11 African cities; i.e. (Abidjan
(Côte d’Ivoire), Dakar (Senegal), Niamey (Niger), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Bamako (Mali),
Cape Town (South Africa), Cotonou (Benin), Keta (Ghana), Mombasa (Kenya), Addis Ababa
(Ethiopia), and Lusaka (Zambia). The overall conclusion was that pollution of groundwater
sources had reached critical levels. It was also concluded that in contrast to its strategic role in
meeting the WSSD targets and the MDGs, groundwater has remained to be a poorly understood
and managed resource. This has become a clear threat to its sustainable water service delivery
and in meeting the WSSD targets and the MDGs on water.
African stakeholders, meeting in Cape Town in November 2005, felt so serious about this
concern that they drafted a message to decision-makers, which was presented at the World
Water Forum in Mexico in April 2006 with support of the African Development Bank and
to AMCOW as part of the Conference of African River and Lake Basin Organisations in
Kampala in October 2006.
Recommendations from Kampala addressing specifically groundwater in Africa were:
(i)
Develop a proposal for managing and protecting groundwater resources within the
framework of RBOs in implementing the Africa Water Vision 2025. The main
thrust for implementing the proposal will be focused on:
▫ Awareness raising
▫ Capacity building
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▫ Building a Knowledge base
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Improve basic knowledge of groundwater resources in Africa
Delineate major risk aquifer systems
Assessment of socio-economic roles and benefits of groundwater in Africa
Capacity building including strategic partnership of key groundwater groups and
projects in the region
(vi) Increase awareness of groundwater issues
(vii) Develop mechanisms for increasing the quantity and quality of data, its
appropriate management and sharing. Assessment and archiving of best practices
solutions for groundwater protection
Groundwater was also addressed in technical recommendations regarding the need for good data
and its appropriate management and sharing.
B. PURPOSE
The purpose of the workshop is to initiate the development of a continent-wide strategic
framework for promotion of sustainable use and management of ground water in Africa. The
framework will set a platform for AMCOW and other partners to effectively harness ground
water resources for improved human well-being, ecosystem health, and alleviation of poverty in
line with the 2010 targets and MDGs. Implementation of this strategy will result in greater
capacity, responsibility of use, management and protection of aquifers at local, national and
regional levels.
C. WORKSHOP THEMES
Stakeholder representatives at the Africa Groundwater session at the 4th World Water Forum held
in Mexico recognized the immense challenge of trying to narrow the interfaces between Science
and Government processes and Science and Society processes to achieve national and regional
development goals. This is imperative if we are to move forward. This can be carried out through
bold steps and by supporting each other in strategic partnerships. The vision is to achieve a
cooperative programme with a focus on “sustainable utilization” of groundwater in Africa.
Development of strategic initiatives leading to sustainable utilization, management and protection
should become the desired trigger and foundation for national and regional actions.
This will be addressed through three main workshop themes: (I) Emerging problems in groundwater development in Africa
(II) Strategic Interventions for Groundwater and its Sustainable Utilization
(III) The way forward
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Protecting and Managing Africa’s Ground Water Resources as
Implementation of the October 2006 Kampala Recommendation
UNESCO Chair University of the Western Cape, Republic of South Africa, 7th - 8th
December 2006
Day One
7th Dec. 2006
Activity
8:30-9:00
Registration
9:00-10:00
Opening ceremony
9:00-9:15
UWC
9:15-9:30
AMCOW
9:30-9:45
UNESCO
9:45-10:00
UNEP
10:30-10:45
Tea Break
SESSION I
Lessons learned from projects towards
Presenter/Responsible
inproved groundwater management
10.45 - 11.00
Lessons learnt over the 6 years of the project
Brent
11.00 – 11:15
Lessons learnt from Stockholm Water Week
Ralf
11.15 – 11:30
GEF Transboundary Shared Aquifer Project
Dodo
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11:30 – 11:45
Lessons learnt from the Kampala side event
Salif
11.45 – 12.05
Presentation of the groundwater book and lesson
Yongxin
learnt
12:05 – 12:45
Session discussions
12:45 -13:15
Presentation of the new proposal
Shifting in Working Groups: Capacity building,
Awareness raising, Knowledge base
13:15 – 13:30
Group formation
13.30 – 14:30
Lunch Break
SESSION II
Co-financing, country commitments,
cooperation with parallel projects, strategies,
to make the initiative more sustainable
14.30-16:00
Working groups (Three)
Focus on status, challenges/constraints, needs
16:00-16:30
Tea break
16:30-17.30
Working groups continued
Focus on opportunities, interventions/activities,
implementation setup
18:00
Evening event
DAY TWO
8th Dec. 2006
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SESSION III
Implementation
8:30 - 9:30
Feedback from capacity building working groups
and discussions
9:30 – 10:30
Feedback from awareness raising working
groups and discussions
10:30 – 11:00
Tea break
11:00-12:00
Feedback from knowledge base creation working
groups and discussions
12:00 - 13:00
Project proposal finalization
13:00-14:30
Lunch Break
14:30-15:45
Round table among partners and other
stakeholders including other experts in
Groundwater (Financial resource, network,
capacity building efforts, data and information,
awareness, knowledge infrastructure and
dissemination) (responsibilities, focal points,
tasks, time lines)
15:45 – 16:00
The way forward and closing remarksUNEP/UNESCO
16:00
Closure of the workshop
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