A more focused look at African hydropolitics: surface water disputes and much-needed context.

After reading my first blog post again, I feel it is now the time to focus in a bit more. In my introduction, I spoke about both groundwater and surface water and waxed lyrical about how I was going to discuss both. I now realise that was unrealistic of me. And counter-productive too. In fact, you'll find that I'll revising a lot of my so-called 'aims' that I set out in my first blog post. Forgive me, I was a bit too excited - hydropolitics will do that to you.

Now, surface water. Although groundwater remains a fascinating area of focus, for the sake of producing a more in-depth blog, I've instead chosen to explore surface water hydropolitics. And, as Figure 1 shows you, Africa is not lacking in transboundary basins, all which are rife with potential conflicts, negotiations and all the problems associated with sharing any resource; be it water, oil, or the last slice of cake at home - you're not going to give up your claim for that stuff too easily I'd imagine (If you thought that was a bad joke, wait till I get to my water related puns in future posts, they'll really make you press Alt + F4 quicker than you've ever done before).

I'm still, however, deciding which water source I will focus on in this blog; I have it narrowed down to three, with each being used by three or more countries.

Figure 1: A table displaying all 11 international river basins in Africa (Source: Goulden et al 2009).

Putting it all into context:

I must begin first with placing the issue of surface water hydropolitics in context. As I mentioned in my first post, transboundary water disputes are not exclusive to the continent of Africa; however, there they are especially pronounced and problematic given the current situation. Africa is world's most water scarce continent (see Figure 2). Be it physical or economic, it is the reason why Sub-Saharan Africa has the most water-stressed countries in any region on earth (UN-Water/FAO: 20). Were this not already severe enough, climate change is set to make it an even bigger challenge (Zinyowera et al 1997; Desanker at al 2001). Temperatures on the continent will rise higher than any other place on earth (de Wit and Stankiewicz 2006), subsequently exacerbating rainfall shortages and causing evapotranspiration to reach hitherto un-recorded levels. Droughts will be more frequent and harsh, and so will floods; Africa may bear the biggest brunt of climate change unless 'urgent' work is done in time to quickly counter-act or mitigate it (Nyong 2005).

Figure 2: A global map of water scarcity (Source: WWAP 2012).

However, this is not the only front on which Africa must fight its battle against water scarcity. A growing population will place an increasing pressure on already taxed resources. The UN FPA (2000) predict Africa's population will grow by over 150% from 2000 to 2050, with its urban population growing by a colossal 320% during the same period. Given this, Carter and Parker (2009: 685, my emphasis) note that it is expected that 'overall demand for water will increase by at least 154% ... in the first half of the 21st century'. So much so is this an issue for African countries, that Vörösmarty et al (2000) found that increased population will put far more pressure on water resources than the impacts of climate change. As well as this, increased urbanisation and increasing per capita consumption, whether for domestic, industry or agricultural purposes, does give real cause for concern (Carter and Parker 2009). Of all aforementioned categories, agricultural usage is likely to place the greatest strain on water resources, with an increasing use of irrigation for food production purposes backed by calls from organisations such as AgWa, CAADP and AGRA. I imagine it will be culpable for water withdrawals rocketing within the continent.

It is indeed quite overwhelming to imagine that Africa is plagued by threats to its water security on two quite distinct and problematic fronts. What is more overwhelming, and frankly saddening, is what Figure 3 shows us: Africa may be the second most populous continent on earth (Niang et al 2014), but it is hardly at all responsible for the on-set of anthropogenically-induced climate change, a phenomenon which unfortunately will dictate the fate of its water resources for the foreseeable future. And no, don't point out South Africa (which ranks a lowly 22nd out of 24) to try pick apart that statement - that is one country out of 54.


Figure 3: CO2 emissions from 1990-2013 (Source: EDGAR 2014)

Hydropolitics:

In this context, the study of hydropolitics is especially important. Facing both the perils of climate change and the rising demands of a growing population, water sources which are transboundary in nature will become increasingly sources of contention as nations battle to secure their claim. It is no wonder, therefore, that the UN included 'Transboundary Cooperation' as one of eight factors which determine water security, citing that 'achieving water security requires collaboration across... political borders to reduce the risk of potential conflicts...' (UN-Water 2013).

Although what I've just gone into detail about above may seem all doom and gloom, I hope that my discussion of the potential success of sharing water resources will brighten up this blog. While it is incontrovertible that many African countries suffer from water scarcity, most only require adequate management to cope with the stresses climate change and population growth will place on them.

That sounds like a massive over-simplication. It is, kind of. But let's roll with it (Sorry, Richard).

Hydropolitics is defined as 'the systematic study of conflict and cooperate over international water resources' (Elhance 1997). The term was coined by John Waterbury (you can't make this stuff up, really) in his 1979 book Hydropolitics of the Nile Valley, and generally refers to the politics surrounding transboundary water resources. Nevertheless, hydropolitics do exist intranationally, and I may even discuss that during the course of this blog.

Water conflicts, Taylor (2004) writes, are more often than not based on a simple tension, that which exists between territorial sovereignty and riverine integrity. Countries which make territorial claims argue that they have 'absolute rights over water flowing through its territory'; those claiming riverine integrity pose that 'every riparian is entitled to the natural flow of a river system crossing its border' (Taylor: 214). This plays out in a contemporary setting due to conflicts over the Nile Basin. While Egypt (downstream) lays a claim to the Nile's resources, so too does Ethiopia (upstream). Here we observe a clear conflict, given that if Ethiopia were to be irresponsible in its abstraction of the river's water, this would directly impact Egypt's water availability. 

There are several actors at play in these kinds of conflicts, from politicians, to international bodies such as the UN, right down to small-scale farmers who depend on the water that is at the heart of said conflicts. This is an issue which plagues Africa most of all, given the sheer amount of international river basins, but also the situation in which it finds itself at the start of the 21st century.

So now I've left you thinking, 'Water they gonna do about it then?' (wow, they're here earlier than I planned). Well the answer is this: International cooperation when dealing with transboundary water resources is a must. If water disputes are to be solved and if equity is to be achieved, conversations must take place and agreements must occur.

In my next blog I'll hopefully be discussing one or two papers which explore the dynamics and issues surrounding transboundary water management in my chosen basin.

Here is an interesting interview with Benjamin Pohl, the lead author of 'The Rise of Hydro-Diplomacy', a report which calls for 'more engagement of the international community in order to support conflict prevention and regional inegration in transboundary waters'.

Kofi Annan once warned the world that competition over fresh water may become a source of war in the future. An African continent without legitimate and effective transboundary water agreements may be the battleground for such a war sooner rather than later.
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List of references:
































Carter, R. and A. Parker (2009) 'Climate change, population trends and groundwater in Africa', Hydrological Sciences, 54, 4, 676-689.

Desanker et al (2001) 'IPCC assessment', cited in Niang et al (2014).

de Wit, M. and J. Stankiewicz (2006) 'Changes in surface Water Supply Across Africa with Predicted Climate Change', Science, 311, 1917-1921.

EDGAR (2014) 'Trends in Global CO2 Emissions', http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/news_docs/jrc-2014-trends-in-global-co2-emissions-2014-report-93171.pdf

Elhance, A. (1997) 'Conflict and cooperation over water in the Aral Sea basin', Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 20, 2, 207-218.

Goulden, M., D. Conway and A. Persechino (2009) 'Adapting to climate change in international river basins in Afroca: a review', Hydrological Sciences, 54, 5, 805-828.

Niang et al (2014) 'Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability', Chapter 22, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i7QNCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1199&lpg=PA1199&dq=:+Climate+Change+2014:+Impacts,+Adaptation,+and+Vulnerability.+Niang&source=bl&ots=-WwbQYFUAo&sig=LD3Iq8FWG_q1mZxq46bPnhj9PxM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBWoVChMIw5eplMrZyAIVTFsaCh1GhQG4#v=onepage&q=%3A%20Climate%20Change%202014%3A%20Impacts%2C%20Adaptation%2C%20and%20Vulnerability.%20Niang&f=false

Nyong, A. (2005) 'Impacts of climate change in the tropics: the African experience', Keynote presentation, Met Office, February 2005.

 Taylor, R. (2004) 'Water resources and development challenges in eastern and southern Africa', in T. Bowyer-Bower and D. Potts (eds) East and Southern Africa: Regional Development, London: Addison-Wesley Longman, 198-228.

UN-Water/FAO (2007) 'Coping with water scarcity: Challenge of the 21st century', http://www.fao.org/nr/water/docs/escarcity.pdf

UN-Water (2013) 'UN Water Analytical Brief on Water Security and the Global Water Agenda', http://www.unwater.org/fileadmin/user_upload/unwater_new/docs/water_security_poster_Oct2013.pdf

Vörösmarty, C., J. Green, P. Salisbury and R. Lammers (2000) 'Global water resources: vulnerability from climate change and population growth', Science, 289, 284-288.

Waterbury, J. (1979) Hydropolitics of the Nile Valley, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.

World Water Assessment Programme (2012) 'Managing Water Under Uncertainty and Risk', http://www.zaragoza.es/ciudad/medioambiente/onu/en/detallePer_Onu?id=71

Zinyowera et al (1997) 'IPCC assessment', cited in Niang et al (2014).

An Introduction to African Hydropolitics

Blog author: Abdurrahman Pérez, UCL Dept. of Geography.

Funny how this is titled 'An Introduction to African Hydropolitics', as if I'm a world-renowned academic who has the authority to speak about the nature of the hydropolitics of an entire continent. I'm not. I only started the reading for this six hours ago. Nevertheless, here goes:

As a continent which is often touted as the most water scarce on Earth (WWAP 2012), one would imagine that Africa is at the centre of most academic debates and research on hydropolitics. Apart from some isolated major conflicts over transboundary water resources in the Middle East (Euphrates River) and North America (Rio Grande), one would be right in thinking so. Nevertheless, as mentioned, this is not a problem exclusive to the continent of Africa; there are, after all, 263 international river basins. However, with the continent feared to bear the greatest brunt of the social, economic and environmental dangers climate change brings with it, water is of special importance to Africa.

Africa is especially interesting because of the issue of transboundary groundwater supplies. Whilst in Europe, North America and the Middle East conflicts exist over water above ground, African nations must focus on water beneath the ground. We should note here that 71 TBAs (Transboundary Aquifers) in Africa cover 42% of the continent. Colossal aquifers disregard international borders and satisfy the demands of many countries at a time, like one which underlies Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria and C.A.R. (Figure 1). These therefore become the focus of water conflicts, mostly due to the fact that underground resources are more easily exploited.

 

Figure 1: A map of Africa's transboundary aquifers; the one I mention is number 7 (Source: UNESCO 2004).

This is not to say, however, that only groundwater monopolises hydropolitics in the continent. Water resources such as the River Nile, whose resources are shared by ELEVEN different countries, are also great sources of contention (Oloo 2007). In fact, 60% of Africa’s population lives in a transboundary river basin (Figure 2).

 

Figure 2: A map of Africa's transboundary river basins (Source: Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database 2014).

 

In sum, while I do not doubt that Europe, Asia and North America are also plagued by transboundary conflicts, I believe a focus on Africa is far more interesting and engaging given: a) the threats climate change poses to the this continent in particular; b) the political tensions between countries which share water resources; c) the unique situation given some nation’s over-reliance and over-abstraction on and of rapidly depleting sources.

Throughout the course of my time blogging on this page I aim to cover both the hydropolitics of groundwater resources and water resources above ground. In doing so I aim to discuss: the problem Africa faces over TBAs and transboundary river basins, proposed legal frameworks regarding sharing water resources, case studies of both success and failure and international agreements.

Kofi Annan once warned the world that competition over fresh water may soon become a source of war in the future. An African continent without legitimate and effective transboundary water agreements may be the battleground for such a war sooner rather than later.