Southern Africa has significant biodiversity and natural resources, as well as a robust legal framework for natural resource management across borders. However, most countries in the region are water scarce or water stressed. National policies lack harmonization across countries and between sectors, and poor and vulnerable populations lack enough benefits and incentives for sustainable resource management.
From June 2012 to December 2017, the USAID-funded Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program (RESILIM) contributed to significant advances in water management, biodiversity, and climate change adaptation across an area of Southern Africa as large as Sweden that is home to 18 million people.
From June 2012 to December 2017, the USAID-funded Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program (RESILIM) contributed to significant advances in water management, biodiversity, and climate change adaptation across an area of Southern Africa as large as Sweden that is home to 18 million people.
This year’s Global Water and Development Report of Water and Sanitation Activities examines USAID programming through the lens of its new areas of focus and opportunity, takes a closer look at USAID’s support for partner countries on their journeys to self-reliance, and provides a country breakdown of WASH and water funding.
The objective of the Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program (RESILIM) of USAID Southern Africa is to enhance the resilience of people and ecosystems in the Limpopo Basin Program (LRB) by strengthening the capacity of the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), and its key stakeholders, to address issues of climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation within the context of trans-boundary integrated water resources management (IWRM).
Why would a major city choose to reform customer relationship management (CRM) in the face of a water crisis? What good could that possibly do when reservoirs are drying up and citizens are being told to dramatically reduce water use?
Most of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is under pressure from increasing population growth, urbanization, and consumption, as well as poorly-planned infrastructure development. All these factors are negatively impacting the quality and availability of freshwater resources. By linking freshwater conservation and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) partners expect that reduced watershed degradation and pollution will help increase the health of watershed ecosystems and species.
This year the organizers of the AfricaSan 5 conference are joining forces with and the organizers of FSM 5 in Cape Town, South Africa to deliver a unique synergistic program that will leverage the political might of the AfricaSan 5 Conference along with the practical and technical output of the FSM Conference. Attendees will have access to a wider array of practitioners working to implement new technology in the field as well as to ministers working to frame the policies that will facilitate development in this sector.
From 2015 to 2018, Conservation International and the Jane Goodall Institute piloted innovative projects that integrate freshwater conservation and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in South Africa and Uganda, respectively.
Water reuse can be an effective way to supplement the water needs of growing cities. Even in the midst of record breaking droughts, this alternative can have meaningful impact once it overcomes public misperceptions and investment barriers. USAID and its partners are helping South Africa encourage greater understanding of this promising approach for strengthening urban water security in the face of growing water scarcity.
