Water and politics in Africa: The need for regional cooperation

Abstract

This paper examines the need for regional cooperation in water resources management in Africa. The earth is a
water planet made up of 70% water, but the crucial fact is that freshwater constitutes only 3%, 99% of which is
locked in polar icecaps, glaciers and far too deep underground, leaving humanity with only 0.3% with which to
quench its ever increasing thirsts. At the country level, extreme variability exists in the availability of total renewable
water resources. It ranges from 10 m3 in Kuwait to 100,000 m3 in Canada. Also, there is high variability in time within
the year for water availability. The 2 major extremes, namely: water poor and water rich countries include Brazil,
Russia, etc., which are generally water rich, while Israel, Jordan, etc., are usually the water poor. in the water poor
nations, water scarcity has reached ‘stress’ level; although the absolute level of water is said to remain the same,
the globe is indisputably facing a growing level of water scarcity. Africa has about 60 international rivers, with a
comparatively few international agreements on the use of water courses. Some of these are: Congo basin – 5
agreements; Incomati – 6; Limpopo – 2; Niger – 10; Nile – 19; comparatively, Europe has only 71 international river
basins but with about 200 agreements. The world environment has been greatly plundered and many negative
consequences are now emerging. This has created more water resource problems across the world with Africa as
one of the worst hit. Water is gaining strategic importance across the world. Many conflicts are emerging due to
water resources. Many water conflicts hotspots now dot the world, with several of such in Africa. It is saddening
that Africa with many international rivers, has no serious water use agreements. The only way out of the present
crises is for African countries to emerge with strong efforts at cooperation for sustainable water resource
management.