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

the 1950s severely disrupted traditional agriculturefurther downstream. The authorities did notproperly inform the people in the plain in advanceabout water releases from the Dam. However, inthe mid-1980s the department responsible forthe river’s management changed its approach,after research shown the adverse effects of theway the dam was operated. Committees wereinstituted in each of the wards, with elected representativesof five different user groups: farmers,fishermen, livestock owners, women and healthworkers. These “Combined Water Committees”sent representatives to the Liaison Committee inwhich the water authorities was also represented.The Liaison Committee finally decided on floodsize, duration, flooding date and related issues.An elaborate procedure was accepted allowingall the Committees have input into how muchand when an artificial flood was required. Thishas facilitated information flow between the waterauthorities and communities on the extentand timing of the flood. Much emphasis is givento hydrologic monitoring, and post-flood feedbackmeetings are held in order for all involvedto better understand how the river reacts to humanmanipulation. The major issue remaining tobe solved in the Phongolo-Maputo River Basinis bringing Mozambique to participate activelyin the flood operation (ibid).Operational conditions for artificialfloodsThe experiences of the Senegal Basin (shared byMali, Senegal, and Mauritania), the Yobe River(shared by Niger, Nigeria, and Chad), the KafueRiver in the Zambezi Basin, (shared by Angola,Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe,Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique), and thePhongolo River in the Phongolo-Maputo Basin,(shared by South Africa and Mozambique),show that it is environmentally beneficial, andeconomically feasible, to simulate artificial floodsby manipulating releases from existing dams.There is, however, an important technical prerequisite.Apart from the obvious fact that thedesign of the dams should allow for sufficientlylarge releases, artificial floods require that all operationaldecisions across the entire basin shouldbe coordinated (ibid). Moreover, artificial floodsrequire sophisticated, real-time monitoring ofhydrological and climatological phenomena.This is because artificial flooding is only feasibleif properly timed, such that it “surfs” on top ofthe limited natural flood streams that still occur.Water scarcity – risk of conflictAfrica suffers from the most unstable rainfall regimeand freshwater distribution. For example,more than 30 per cent of the total surface waterresources in Africa are in one single river basin,the Congo River Basin, although this Basin coversonly 10 per cent of the total population of thecontinent. Furthermore, 75 per cent of the totalcontinental water resources are concentrated ineight major river basins: the Congo, the Niger,the Ogadugne (Gabon), the Zambezi, the Nile,the Sanga, the Chari-Lagone and the Volta.Only 4 per cent of Africa’s available surface waterresources are currently exploited, althoughthe continent suffers from chronic drought anddesertification. Africa’s water resources, especiallythe transboundary water resources, areless developed than those in other parts of theworld. The continent also suffers from chronicseasonal water supply fluctuations. For example,most sub-Saharan rivers have high flows duringthe rainy season and much-reduced flows duringthe dry season. Therefore, dams and large storagereservoirs are required for regulating their annualflow variations as well as for irrigation andpower generation. Most of these large projectshave transboundary implications because mostare shared by two or more countries.The task of managing the process of adapting towater scarcity mainly requires learning how todeal with:(a) The conflicts caused by the natural resourcescarcity itself (both international and internalconflicts on the distribution of the resource);andSHARING WATER FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION261