Research, Policy Key In Water Resource Management

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday September 12, 2016 15:55

National director of the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCCALM), Casper Bonyongo said that research-based evidence often plays a very minor role in policy formulation in  Botswana. He said that this is because there is limited interaction between researchers and policy makers. “The lack of interaction means policy makers are often not informed about ongoing research while researchers always lack knowledge of the most pressing policy questions that they would need to make their research more relevant,” he said.

“However, recently there has been an increased interest in policy research.”

Bonyongo said that Botswana and the rest of Southern Africa are faced with water insecurity hence the need to intensify research that will influence water resource management policies. He said that currently SASSCCALM is involved in 14 research projects funded to the tune of over P34 million focusing on water, agriculture, biodiversity, wildlife and forestry.

Meanwhile, Piet Kenabatho from the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Botswana said there is need for policy on watershed management along with water demand management that is critical towards improved water resource management in Botswana.

He said there is also a need for an integrated approach, similar to that imbedded in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) to address socio economic and livelihood issues. 

He said they are currently doing a study to establish an experimental data rich hydro-meteorological site in the Notwane catchment upstream of Gaborone Dam with the overall aim of providing detailed spatial data for use in hydrological modelling and water resource management.

Kenabatho said that this is expected to enhance understanding of hydrological processes within the Notwane catchment and to offer interventions for appropriate decision and policy making. The study started in 2015 and will end in 2018.