Engage all stakeholders in benefit sharing-LIMCOM

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Thursday June 10, 2010 00:00

 

The countries concerned are Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Interim Chairperson of the Limpopo Water Course Commission (LIMCOM), Sergio Sitoe told delegates at a meeting in Francistown that    water use is not only limited to the ministry responsible for it but everyone else in the countries concerned.

Co-presenting the paper on benefit sharing and regional cooperation, Bertrand Meiner and Capacity Development Advisor Peter Qwist-Hoffmann of the GTZ responsible for Trans-boundary Water Management in SADC said parties sharing water-courses commonly encounter problems when attempting to allocate the water volumes that are available.  He explained that the primary cause of this is the 'so called' Zero Sum Dilemma, which exists where the volume of water is finite and capped. He said in these circumstances, a re-allocation of water implies that what is gained by one riparian is lost in equal amount by one or more other parties. 'The riparians losing water volumes in such scenarios are commonly reluctant to proceed to an agreement for obvious reasons,' he said.

He indicated that the attainment of a Positive Sum Outcome (PSO), which is characterised by simultaneous improvements over time in the circumstances of all the riparians sharing a trans-boundary water course could be a solution to overcoming some of the challenges.

He said it is often possible to attain a PSO simply in relation to water volume without considering other benefits connected to the water itself. He said this is because the water volume available to support domestic use and economic activities within a trans-boundary basin is in reality not capped and could be increased.

In examples he gave to achieve this, he mentioned reducing water losses through leakages, illegal connections, which can be reduced by refurbishment and improved controls, considerably improving supplies reaching the end user. He stated that wastewater reuse usually for agricultural purposes is growing in many areas of the world as water stress increases. He further stated that costs for the desalination of brackish or marine waters could have reduced dramatically in the last two decades with the option being taken up by more and more water stressed countries.

However, in giving their presentation Botswana representatives agreed that almost all of the water increasing options was relevant in their country, which still faces a major water shortage.