| Abstract |
This document describes and analyses the status of the participation of local governments in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the region of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC). It contains a summary compilation of four river basin reports – looking into the situation of the Zambezi, Limpopo, Incomati, and
Orange basin – and four reports referring to the countries sharing the Limpopo basin (Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe). All of these reports have been
produced by the SADC partners of the LoGo Water project. The document provides an overview of the water resources situation in the SADC region and how these resources are currently being used and managed at regional, national and local level. It also brings together a number of case examples of local government activities linked to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) within certain SADC countries. The document concludes that there is currently only a limited IWRM involvement of
local government in the SADC region. IWRM institutions such as catchment agencies and river basin commissions are not sufficiently accessible to local governments that
want to get involved. Local governments themselves are often preoccupied with reaching water and sanitation targets within their local boundaries and therefore IWRM issues fall easily off their agenda. The reasons for this are manifold. An overall observation is that there is no well established concept on how local governments can and should take part in IWRM. Also, coordination between local governments and IWRM institutions and a common vision of all main actors in IWRM are still lacking. Improved institutional frameworks, an increased allocation of finances, better data management, intensive awareness-raising and targeted training on relevant management approaches and tools are required to address this missing link between capacities, needs and potentials at local level and the decision making in higher government spheres. [authors abstract]
This document is part of the project ‘LoGo Water : towards effective involvement of local government in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in river basins of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region’.
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