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.