African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

African Water Development Report 2006Water Resources Management andWater Conflict ResolutionWater resources management involves a rangeof activities: monitoring, modelling, exploration,assessment, design of measures and strategies,implementation of policy, operation and maintenance,and evaluation. It also involves supportactivities such as institutional reform (Box 11.2)Table 11.2: Transboundary river basins in Cameroonas well as local, national, and international activitieswith short- or long-term goals (SavenijeH. and Hoekstra A. 2002). This makes waterresources management multidimentional, involvinga whole range of scientific, technical,institutional, managerial, legal, and operationalactivities required to plan, develop, operate, andmanage water resources (Table 11.3).Name ofBasinTotal area of basin,km 2Countries inBasinArea of Cameroonin basin, km 2% of basin inCameroonAkpa 4,900 Cameroon 3,000 61.65NigeriaBenito/Ntem 45,100 Cameroon 18,900 41.87GabonEquatorial GuineaCongo Basin 3,691,000 13 countries 85,200 2.31Cross 52,800 Cameroon 12,500 23.66NigeriaLake Chad 2,388,700 9 countries 46,800 1,96Niger (Benoue 2,113,200 11 countries 88,100 4.17in Cameroon)Ogooue 223,000 Gabon5,200 2.34Congo BrazzavilleCameroonEquatorial GuineaTotal 259,700AWDR National Report, 2003Box 11.1The Congo BasinThis is the largest basin in Africa with an area of about 3.7 million km 2 and shared by 13 countries. These countriesare: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), the Central African Republic, Angola, the Congo (Brazzaville),Zambia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, the Sudan, Gabon, Malawi, and Uganda. About 2.3 %of the basin area falls within Cameroon where it covers about 20% of the surface area. There is no agreementbetween the thirteen riparian States on the use of the resources of the basin. This is probably because the percapita available water in the basin is quite high and as such most of the water flows into the sea. For example,in Cameroon, the per capita available water of the inhabitants in the Congo basin was estimated at 41,300 m 3in 2000 and projected to be 20,700 m 3 in the year 2025. With sparsely populated areas, high rainfall and loweconomic activities, the amount of water abstracted from the basin is very low and hence there have so far beenno problems of equitable distribution requiring treaties or agreements.Some sub-basins of the Congo have agreements ,e.g. the Great Lakes Region, between 3 states mainly forpower generation.Source: AWDR National Report of Cameroon256