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.
Resilience in the Limpopo Basin (RESILIM) | 2012–2017
River basins in southern Africa, like river basins around the world, are under threat from increasing water use and shifting rainfall patterns, which are exaggerating flood and drought cycles and degrading water quality. It is hard enough for one country to adapt to these changing conditions, but most of the world’s water basins — 263 lake and river basins, covering almost half of the earth’s nonocean surface — cross national boundaries. To ensure that collaboration rather than competition wins out in basin management, neighboring countries need to work together.
People living in the Limpopo River Basin in Southern Africa face water shortages, increased floods, and declines in crop productivity as climate change further stresses an already water limited region. Trans-boundary cooperation and action is needed to prevent further degradation of critical river ecosystems, to secure biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to support robust livelihoods in the basin.
The Limpopo River basin is one of the most vulnerable transboundary basins in the Southern African region, because of water scarcity and climate-related risks, as well as in its limited capacity to adapt. Water Demand Management (WDM) can reduce these risks through conservation and re-use of water resources.
