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

African Water Development Report 2006and of course the modern internet systems.Another occasion that was expected to have reverberationsin African countries is the InternationalYear of Freshwater – 2003, which wasproclaimed by the United Nations General Assemblyby a resolution, adopted on 20 December2000. It encourages Governments, the UnitedNations system and all other actors to take advantageof the Year to increase awareness of theimportance of sustainable freshwater use, managementand protection. It also calls upon Governments,national and international organizations,non-governmental organizations and theprivate sector to make voluntary contributionsand to lend other forms of support to the Year.Factors Affecting Information Transferto African CountriesThere are many factors which hinder free flowof information to water professionals in Africancountries. With the top-down mechanism for informationdissemination, even when such informationarrive they hardly reach the professionalswho actually need them for their professionalpractice. The difference between the technologyneeds in developed and less developed countriesdue to unequal levels of socio-economic developmentalso has influence on the relative relevanceof materials published in international journals.It is generally felt that experts from Africa haveto struggle hard at the international competitivepublication avenues to have their research resultspublished even though reference publications areneeded to support their occupational advancement.The poor level of remuneration and salariesof professionals in most African countriesalso does not allow them to seek individual avenuesfor information such as subscription to internationaljournals and payment of membershipfees of their respective professional associations.Moreover, lack of foreign exchange in most ofthese countries hinders water professionals’ accessto international services and events suchas technical information, conveyed throughjournals, textbooks, current awareness services,computer data bases of bibliographic informationand attendance at professional and scientificmeetings. Generally, lack of foreign exchange inthese countries hinders:(a) Access to technical information, conveyedthrough journals, textbooks, current awarenessservices, computer databases of bibliographicinformation and attendance at professionaland scientific meetings and so on;(b) Payment of affiliation fees to various internationalprofessional institutions;(c) Payment of high costs involved in the acquisitionof new instruments and data processingequipment, repair of existing instrumentsand maintenance of data archivesand information systems.The above-cited difficulties kills motivation andmorale which are necessary for professional innovation.Motivation and recognition are twocardinal elements that can stimulate high- levelresearch results. In the absence of a socio-economicenabling environment as is the case inmost African countries, a scientific or professionalrecognition at national or regional level fora significant and important contribution to thewater and environmental sciences and practiceswould go a long way to give some satisfactionto water-related professionals. It is also time topromote subregional or continent-wide journalsin Africa in order to promote an active exchangeof information on water resources developmentand management practices among practitionersin different subregions, thus allowing for informationflow among practitioners in different hydro-climaticenvironments, on the one hand, andalso policy makers and the public at large, on theother. Specific aims of such journals include:(a) To provide a forum for the discussion oftechnologies relevant to IWRM practices indeveloping countries, including their identification,development and applications indifferent physical and climatic zones;(b) To publish good quality papers that are of328