Regional solution for integrated land and water management -Workshop 1 - CP meeting Day 1

“Regional dialogue on groundwater to strengthen synergy with strategic partners for adaptation to climate change and food security in West Africa, an initiative led by GWP West Africa”

GWP NETWORK MEETING Workshop: Regional solutions for integrated land and

water management, Thursday 18 August

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Table of contents

1. Background and rational

2. Presentation of the initiative

3. The partnership building around the dialogue

4. The way forward

5. Conclusion

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1. Background and rational

GWP/WA Strategy 2009-2013 includes

→ “Operationalisation of IWRM”→ Water & land conservation and management→ Identification of groundwater management as a

key issue for the strategic period,→ Contributing to the resilience to CC impact,→ and Shared Water managementIWRM dealing also with climate change

adaptation and MDGs (Meeting populations needs)

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1. Background and rational

On-going initiatives/policies in West Africa

→ National IWRM Action Plans and other national water policy documents, being developed, revised or implemented

→ An excellent work by OSS on transboundary aquifers (e.g. Concerted management of the North-Western Sahara Aquifer System, a transboundary one) that needs to be built on

→ Work by UNESCO on the aquifers of the Gulf of Guinea and also the Internationally Shared Aquifer Resource Management (ISARM) programme

→ Initiative by FAO on coastal aquifers→ Groundwaters in West Africa are characterised by their transboundary

dimension as are surface waters (rivers Niger, Senegal, Volta, etc.)

→A number of national programmes related to Groundwater, etc...

However: Lack of communication between the key actors

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Cartography of the transboundary aquifer systems within the project area

Source: adapted from (ANBO, 2007: 84), according to (BRG and UNESCO, 2006).

1. Background and rational

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→ Heads of States commitments (Ouagadougou 1998, Sharm El Sheikh 2008, Syrte 2008, etc.) made strong focus on groundwater management

→ The ECOWAS Regional water policy endows basin organisations with responsibilities for groundwater management;

However:• Groundwater resources are not given enough consideration by water management policies • Almost all efforts (knowledge and management) focus on surface water only, yet everybody knows the interdependencies between surface and ground water

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1. Background and rational

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1. Background and rational

In order to fill in this gap, GWP/WA took the initiative to work with stakeholders already involved to :

→ Develop a joint proposal based on agreed situation analysis and priority issues to address

→ Look for resources to implement the programme

→ Implement the programme

Conduct a regional dialogue between key stakeholders

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Main objective

Induce the effective integration of groundwater issues in national and regional water management policies (States, organisations for regional integration, basin organisations), by taking into account groundwater resources in general and transboundary aquifers in particular

2. Presentation of the initiative

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Specific objectivesImprove knowledge (scientific, technical, institutional) on groundwater

in each country, with a special focus on transboundary aquifers;

Assess needs (technical, financial, institutional, human)

Strengthen the capacities of national experts on national and transboundary groundwater management

Identify management tools and arrangements that need to be improved or developed so that groundwater and their specific management framework are better taken into account in an IWRM context; and

Facilitate the development (or review) of national and regional sustainable development and IWRM policies related to groundwater resources in general and transboundary aquifers in particular.

2. Presentation of the initiative

10Source: adapted from (ANBO, 2007: 84), according to (BRG and UNESCO,

2006).

Dialogue for a collaborative management of groundwater

« National » aquifers

Transboundary aquifers

Groundwater at regional level

Project area: West African sub-region

West Africa (16) ECOWAS Countries and Mauritania

2. Presentation of the initiative

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Component 1: Assessment / diagnostic of groundwater management at national and regional levels, on scientific & technical // social, economic & environmental // legal & institutional

Component 2: Regional and National Dialogues, through regional seminars and national workshops in the countries involved

Component 3: Capacity building for national experts including training seminars linking Water, Climate and Agriculture issues

Component 4: Sensitisation, communication and visibility, with the Sensitisation on groundwater , Climate impact and Agriculture issues at national and transboundary basin levels

Component 5 Operationalisation of the recommendations from the Dialogue

2. Presentation of the initiative 5 Proposed components (To be refined after the regional consultative workshop)

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Beneficiaries: i) States, the National Water, Climate and Agriculture Officers, and decision makers ii) Regional integration organisations, iii) Basin organisations Scientific and technical partners: OSS, UNESCO, IWMI, IUCN etc. Coordination with other groundwater projects in West Africa: OSS, IFAD, GEF, UNEP, UNESCO, FAO, IUCN, UNECA and ACPC.

3. The partnership building around the dialogue

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Key stakeholders have been involved in the earlier stages of the initiativesOne major step for the dialogue was the initiative from UNESCO

to organise a meeting in Paris (12-13 April 2010) with the objective to exchange views on the project, collect additional information, define respective roles and niches,

The next key step is the planned regional consultation Workshop

3. The partnership building around the dialogue

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The planned regional consultation Workshop involving key stakeholders:

Financial sponsorship from ACPC, WAEMU, GWP and technical support from all the Major Stakeholders

The purpose of this workshop is to:• consider, discuss and validate the report of the diagnostic

study;• validate the collected data/information, recommendations

and the proposed priority actions as well as the roadmap for the regional dialogue;

• identify priority actions for immediate applications for funding from donors

3. The partnership building around the dialogue

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4.The way forward

• Organise the regional consultation workshop on Groundwater

• Finalise the synthesis of the key Output to take into account,

• Define the final programme according to appropriate framework

• Raise the funds needed for implementation

• Implement the Dialogue programme

• Organise the Monitoring and Evaluation

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5. Conclusion

Consultation of main key stakeholders showed:A common agreement on the importance of better integration of

groundwater in development policies;

A confirmation of the fact that several organisations work on the subject, with already a high level of expertise and experiences which need to be built on and shared;

That the Dialogue is relevant and the contribution of groundwater in agriculture should be recognised and strengthened with the most pertinent tools

That interested organisations are ready to cooperate. ACPC is strongly supportive.

That the major Stakeholders need to have a consensus on the situation analysis and the topics to address, and the Agree on next steps for the success.

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Thanks for your attention