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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONImage: mostphotos.com/lekseleGuidelines for managing liquid waste and hazardous substances help keep the Okavango Delta ecosystem safe from pollutionBotswana, the Department of Waste Management and PollutionControl is already using the guidelines throughout the country andpushing for them to be codified in laws such as the EnvironmentalImpact Assessment Act, Tourism Licensing Act, Land Board Act andBuildings Control Act.The Okavango River Basin is shared by two other countries:Namibia and Angola. To protect the Okavango Delta, the part of thebasin which lies in Botswana, the countries upstream need to managethe risk of pollution by undertaking similar cooperative exercises anddeveloping guidelines for their particular circumstances. In order toscale up lessons learned in the Okavango Delta across the basin, GWPBotswana is working through regional networks, such as the SouthernAfrica Regional Environmental Programme (SAREP), to share experiencesof how the guidelines for the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site workin practice. The guidelines are being used in SAREP projects in theOkavango River Basin and in work to improve transboundary cooperationon water in Southern Africa.Because those with a stake in the well-being of the OkavangoDelta worked cooperatively to develop the guidelines, they are likelyto find the guidelines useful, to put them into practice and evenperhaps to encourage others to do so. Where there has been potentialfor conflict and breakdown of communication, the approachtaken by GWP Botswana has instead encouraged understanding andcollaboration. Barriers dissolved as people were given the space andtime to listen, and be listened to.Many of the problems affecting wetlands stem from the failure ofusers to cooperate. In the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site, what wasneeded to prevent pollution was to bring water users together toreach a common understanding of the problems, anddiscuss possible solutions and ways forward. Changingthe way water is managed takes time and requirescommitment and contributions from many parties.Celebrating water cooperation is therefore an importantmanifestation of what partnerships can do at all levelsfrom the local to the global.Hippos grazing near the Okavango DeltaImage: mostphotos.com/ericschmiedl[ 202 ]