THE AFRICAN TRANSBOUNDARY WATER LAW DATABASE:

Collection, Analysis, Findings

Mark Giordano&Jonathan Lautze

Presented at IWMI HQ, BattaramullaJanuary 2010

Source: UNECA,2000

*Presentation made to visiting university students

Transboundary Waters in Africa

• With the exception of island states, every African country has territory in at least one transboundary basin

• Transboundary basins cover 62 percent of Africa’s total land area

• History of transboundary water agreements applying to Africa’s transboundary basins dates back over 100 years

• Little was known about the nature and extent of that law

Source: Oregon State University, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database,2001

Work undertaken as part of CPWF¹ Project “Transboundary Water Governance for Agricultural and Economic Growth and Improved Livelihoods

• Sought to assemble a database of African transboundary water law• Searched existing treaty collections (FAO, OSU TFDD², UN

collections) and tapped into networks in Africa (AWIRU³, ANBO4) • Compiled more than 150 agreements between or among countries

applying to an African transboundary water body• Classified agreements according to a number of criteria, e.g.,

– Basin(s) involved, Signatories involved, Year signed, goal(s)

– Conceptual Water Allocation Criteria, Quantified Allocation of Water, provision for Monitoring and Exchange of Data. Reference to Water Quality. Reference to Equitable Use

• Placed database with classifications on line: www.africanwaterlaw.org

CPWF1: Challenge Program on Water and Food

OSU TFDD2: Oregon State University, The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database

AWIRU3: African Water Issues Research Unit

ANBO4: Africa Network of Basin Organizations

   

 

Home Page

Background

Instructions

Search

Bibliography

Links

AcknowledgementsContact Us

 

Search by Basin

Search by Country or Organization

 

Source: <www.africanwaterlaw.org>

Home Page

Background

Instructions

Search

Bibliography

Links

AcknowledgementsContact Us

 

 

  Atui

Awash

Baraka

Benito-Ntem

Bia

Buzi

Cavally

Cestos

Chiloango

Congo

Corubal

Cross

Csa

Cunene

Cuvelai

Daoura

Dif

Domoni

Dra

Gambia

Gash

Geba

Great Scarcies

Guir

Incomati

Juba-Shibeli

Komoe

Lake Chad

Lake Natron

Lake Turkana

Limpopo

Little Scarcies

Loffa

Lotagipi Swamp

Mana-Morro

Maputo

Mauni

Moa

Mono

Niger

Nile

Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System

Nyanga

Ogooue

Okavango

Orange

Oueme

Outemboni

Ruvuma

Sabi

Sassandra

Senegal

St. John

St. Paul

Tafna

Tano

Umba

Umbeluzi

Utamboni

Volta

Zambezi

1 Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal defining their respective spheres of influence in Africa. Lisbon, 11 June, 1891

2 Agreement between South Africa, Swaziland, and Portugal. 13 October, 1974

3 Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa, The Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland and the Government of the People’s Republic of Mozambique relative to the Establishment of a Tripartite Permanent Technical Committee. Pretoria, 17 February, 1983

4 Tripartite Ministerial Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Water Affairs Held of the 15th February, 1991 in Swaziland. 15 February, 1991

5Treaty on the Development and Utilization of the Water Resources of the Komati River Basin between the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland and the Government of the Republic of South Africa. 13 March, 1992

6 Treaty on the establishment and functioning of the joint water commission between the government of the Kingdom of Swaziland and the government of the Republic of South Africa. Mbabane, 13 March, 1992

7Agreement on the Development and Utilization of the Water of the Komati River Basin between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of Kangwane. 7 October, 1992

8 Protocol on shared watercourse systems in the Southern African development community (SADC) region. Johannesburg, 28 August, 1995

9 Joint Water Commission Terms of Reference between the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Mozambique. 1 January, 1996

10 Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). 7 August, 2000

11 Tripartite Interim Agreement Between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland for Co-operation on the Protection and Sustainable Utilization of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses . Maputo, 13 August, 2002

Tripartite Interim Agreement Between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland for Co-operation on the Protection and Sustainable Utilization of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses . Maputo, 13 August, 2002

Date Signed 13-Aug-2002

Location Signed   Maputo

Primary Goal 5

Colonial Status of Signatories   All Independent

Water Related Goal(s)   Sustainable Development

Includes Equity Concepts? Yes

Includes a Management Structure? Yes, assumes

Includes Water Quality Provision?   Yes, category 1

Includes Groundwater Provision? No

Includes Information Exchange Provisions?   Yes

Includes and Amendment Mechanism? Yes

Includes a Conflict Resolution Mechanism?   Yes, via SADC arbitration tribunal

Includes Water Allocation Criteria? EquityNeedsPrior Use/Historical Precedent

Basin(s) Involved IncomatiMaputo

Signatories MozambiqueSouth AfricaSwaziland

Citation AWIRU

Electronic Version Not available

Findings• Compared water allocations in treaties referring to equitable use

with those making no such reference; developed indicators to measure % water allocated v. % runoff generated, % pop, and & land area in each country

• Agreements referring to equitable

use allocate water more

proportionate to country

runoff, population,

and land area0

25

50

75

100

Run-Off

Land AreaPopulation

Equity Agreements

Agreements Making no

Reference to Equity

Source: Managing transboundary waters in extreme environments: the role of international actors in Africa. Giordano, Mark and Jonathan Lautze.In Lipchin, C.; Sandler, D.; Cushman, E. (Eds.). The Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin: cooperation amid conflict. New York, NY, USA: Springer Verlag. pp.113-138. 2009

Findings• Looked at % of agreements containing a development focus over time• SSA outside of South Africa appears to follow global trend despite different development levels and water resources conditions•There may be hand-me-down effect, int’l normsmay be applied too uniformly given diversityof conditions

Source: Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Journal of Environment and Development. 16: 290-306. 2007

Impacts and Uptake

• Findings have been channeled through journal articles and cited in AMCOW1, UN, WBank documents, referenced by CFR² and at least one African water affairs ministry

• The African transboundary water law database will be combined with Oregon State Treaty database. This will result in a massive expansion in number of known agreements

AMCOW1: African Ministers’ Council on Water

CFR2: Council on Foreign Relations

Future Directions

• Look into timelines for creation of River Basin Organizations, identify benchmarks for progress

• Compare potential impacts of climate change with existence/nature of transboundary institution, identify vulnerability

Future Directions

• When is a basin ripe for development of transboundary institution?

• What have been the impacts of transboundary institutions? EG, how has the rate and distribution of WRD* been affected?

*WRD: Water Resource Development

Related Publications

• Lautze, J., Giordano, M. and Kloos, H. 2010. Water Resources Development and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile Basin: Overview and Global Context. Chapter 1 in Helmut Kloos and Worku Legesse Mulat, ed., Water Resources and their Development in Ethiopia: Management, Impacts and Interventions. Cambria Press.

• Giordano, M. and Lautze, J. 2009. Managing Waters in Extreme Environments: The Role of International Actors in Africa. In: Managing Waters in Extreme Environments. NATO Publication.

• Lautze, J., and Giordano, M. 2007. Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Environment and Development 16(3): 290-306.

• Lautze, J., and Giordano, M. 2007. A History of Transboundary Law in Africa. Chapter 5 in Grieco, M., Kitoussou, M., and Ndulo, M., eds. The Hydropolitics of Africa: A Contemporary Challenge. Cambridge Scholars Press.

• Lautze, J. and Giordano, M. 2006. Equity in Transboundary Water Law: Valuable Paradigm or Merely Semantics? Colorado Journal of International Environmental   Law and Policy 17(1): 89-122.

• Lautze, J., and Giordano, M. 2005. Transboundary Water Law in Africa: Development, Nature, and Geography. Natural Resources Journal 45(4): 1053-1087.

Thank you!