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Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at ‹http://dnb.d-nb.de›.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library, Great Britain

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Water governance–challenges in Africa : hydro-optimism or hydro-pessimism? / Ibrahima Anne (ed.).

p. cm. – (CEAUP studies on Africa ; v. 2)

Conference proceedings.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-3-0343-1133-5

1. Water-supply–Africa–Management–Congresses. 2. Water-supply–Africa–Management– International cooperation–Congresses. 3. Water resources development–Africa–Congresses. 4. Water resources development–Africa–International cooperation–Congresses. 5. Watershed management–Africa–Congresses. 6. Water-supply–Government policy– Africa–Congresses. I. Anne, Ibrahima, II. Series: CEAUP studies on Africa ; v. 2.

HD1699.A1W385 2012 333.910096–dc23

We would like to thank Professor Ramiro Pimenta for his valuable collaboration and his meticulous text revision.

Cover illustration: Western Sahara woman in the refugee camp of Tindouf, Algeria by Mohamed Massara. Agencia LUSA, Portugal.

ISBN 978-3-0343-1133-5 pb. ISBN 978-3-0351-0518-6 eBook ISSN 1663-3059 pb. ISSN 2235-591X eBook

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Printed in Switzerland

ALAN NICOL*

Prologue: A starting point...

Africa’s waters are 90% shared. At its core future water management and development is a collective challenge straddling national, river basin and socio-cultural boundaries. In many cases boundaries overlap, are contiguous or cross each other at right angles. Grounds for optimism or pessimism over the future for ‘water in Africa’ are very much embedded in this complex decision making space, sometimes referred to as the ‘problemshed’.

This conference enabled a range of researchers and practitioners to convene and explore key social, cultural and political dynamics around both large and small water development in Africa. This distinction helps in unpacking the debates that surround water for food production, hydropower development, and the smaller in quantity but no less important water that households need for future health and productivity.

The eleven papers in this conference covered much of this ground and, therefore, provide an especially exciting intellectual contribution to current understanding. They shed light not only on the scale of the collective challenge, but also on the qualitative fault lines that lie within from role of the market economy to the meaning and interpretation in policy and practice of the human right to water.

Analyses of the complexity of water governance including intricate social-ecological systems and processes of decentralisation are explored, as are the opportunities afforded by focusing on new forms of learning. We are brought up to date with realities of new external actors influencing Africa’s water management through a focus on Chinese assistance to dam building, and then brought firmly back to ground-level and local realities with an exploration of the ‘small water’ issues involved in water and poverty linkages. We learn of experiences in integrated water management and of hydropolitical ‘risk’ as well as the potential contribution of rainwater harvesting to Africa’s future agricultural growth – a pillar for future development across the continent. Overall the richness and depth these papers provide should be a stimulus to further policy debate and critical thinking on future development scenarios.

And this is a task just in its infancy. Already to the mix we need to add climate change scenarios and the impact of continued high population growth. The research agenda is growing, and, rightly so, increasingly being led from Africa and by African institutions. These papers can aid in a process of converging research efforts both North-South and South-South, which will bridge the optimism-pessimism divide and seek to support better planning and investment decision making that takes a more informed approach and one build on concepts and practice of no or low-regret decision making. Whilst the hydro-optimists might say that the right decisions are being taken to ‘futureproof ’ Africa against natural and man-made hazards including droughts and floods (and deterioration in water quality), for the pessimists the future is always frightening. For researchers of either bent, the future remains an open question, and our job is to continue the search for answers.

 

* London. Knowledge, Technology and Society Team. Institute of Development Studies. University of Sussex, Brighton. United Kingdom.