SADC holds water dialogue in Mbabane

The dialogue is meant to discuss water financing for climate change in the region. Delivering opening remarks, the director of Infrastructure at the SADC secretariat, Remmy Makumbe said that climate and water have a unique relationship.

He explained that some of the key adversities common to water and climate require great effort to mitigate based on recognised and costly adaptation mechanisms. Makumbe said there is broad consensus as regards the centrality of water to the region's economic growth and the overarching objective of poverty eradication, an intervention espoused by the UN in meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDG). He asked how far the region is in meeting the MDG target of halving the population with access to water by 2015. He said that according to the World Bank, Africa has the least water storage per capita in the world. In the Sub-Sahara, there are about four percent of renewable flows compared to 70-90 in the developing world.