- Major regional conference this week in Johannesburg on
- How water will be used in southern Africa
Water is the key resource of the 21st century and the way we plan to use it now will determine its availability and access in the future.
Southern Africa is particularly prone to erratic rainfall patterns that disrupt access to water, and make its availability unpredictable. However, this can be rectified through improved collaboration across borders at regional level.
South Africa is hosting a major conference this week of a regional “smart partnership” to discuss water management across borders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is playing a key role at the conference.
Government and non-government participants from the 13 SADC member states will consider issues of transboundary and community water management, water partnerships, and the role of women in managing water resources.
The central theme of their discussions puts water management in the context of partnerships to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which address poverty and other development issues.
The MDGs are targets set by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000. One of the eight targets for 2015 is to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. This is a particularly acute target for South Africa and other SADC countries.
Progress will be reviewed by world leaders, including President Thabo Mbeki, at a Millennium Review Summit in New York in September this year.
The meeting this week in Johannesburg of the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP SA) marks the start of the UN Water Decade 2005-2015.
Some 150 participants from SADC governments and non-government organisations are expected to attend, as well as the SADC secretariat’s water division.
The Global Water Partnership is an international network open to all organisations involved in water resources management. It was created to foster co-ordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources through Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). This aims to maximize economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems.
GWP is currently facilitating the development of IWRM/Water Efficiency Plans in a number of southern African countries. These plans will contribute to the achievement of MDGs.
GWP Southern Africa was launched in 2000, the first regional partnership on water. The network now has more than 200 member institutions from the 13 SADC countries, including governments, educational institutions, private sector and other civil society groups across southern Africa. These members bring to the network expertise, experience, information and commitment to improve the region’s water resources situation.
GWP SA is guided by SADC’s regional vision of “equitable and sustainable utilisation of water for social and environmental justice, regional integration and economic benefit for present and future generations.”
This important regional meeting will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, 29 and 30 June, at the Birchwood Hotel & Conference Centre in Boksburg. Media interviews can be arranged with water experts and activists, and senior officials from the region. ·
Contact Andrew Takawira or Alex Simalabwi at the Birchwood Hotel.
