Africa must be innovative, cut funding and research gaps to achieve water security - African Leaders

THE sixth Africa Water Week opened in Dar-es- Salaam on Monday with a call for African scientists to actively participate in research and capacity building on the continent.

Opening the conference which has drawn participants from across the African continent, Minister for Water and Irrigation of the United Republic of Tanzania, Engr Gerson Lwenge was gratified to note the diversity of expertise and great wealth of experience in water that is gathered.

“We would wish to take full advantage of this great resource to articulate on pertinent issues that are affecting the water sector including climate change,” he says.  “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them," he added. Engr Lwenge says the water sector on the continent is facing huge challenges with most of them emanating from anthropogenic activities.

Africa faces huge challenges with multiple issues that adversely affect public health. One major challenge is the ability for both rural and urban Africans to access a clean water supply.

Zambia for example is experiencing water crisis that have resulted in energy deficit because of the country’s dependence on hydro power. Today, many households are subjected to 12 hours load shedding in a day.

The minister’s called on African leaders to invest resources and time to develop new and innovative initiatives to manage scarce water resources that could turn around the continent’s story. “It’s time to be innovative in all fronts of the water sector all our countries – from research to policy formulation and implementation, he suggested.

President of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) and Senegalese minister for hydraulic and sanitation, Amadou Mansour Faye highlighted the need to better address issues related to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. SDG-6 calls on countries to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation ... and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.

Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa re- collected from ancient civilization where water has been intertwined in all facets of mankind including livelihood, dignity and development.

The prime minister says because water exists in various forms while impacting all dimensions of human life, there is need to co-operate in the management of water. The theme of this sixth Africa Water Week is ‘Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on Water Security and Sanitation’.

Mr Majaliwa commended AMCOW for the theme selection which he says was well chosen due to the fact that countries are at the onset of the implementation of the SDG six which focuses on water security and sanitation. He encouraged delegates to co-operate in managing water resources as it is one of the key elements that need to be in place to achieve SDG number six.

The prime minister called on Africa to address the shortages and gaps in human resources and capital investment in the water sector for the continent to achieve meaningful cooperation and SDG-6. As Africa continent, “we need to direct our focus on the significant results of scientific research to underpin the solutions of the challenges facing the water sector.” he says.

He challenged all researchers in the water and all related sectors, in Tanzania, Africa and beyond, to develop and lead innovative research efforts that could directly contribute to attaining SDG water goal. “It is an opportunity for researchers to think big and innovatively, with a cooperation and integration mind he concluded.

AMCOW executive secretary Bai Mass Tall is hopeful that the conference will adopt a roadmap for developing a comprehensive action plan for Africa aimed at translating high-level commitments including N'gor Declaration on Water Security and Sanitation into implementation at country, sub-regional and continental levels.

He says the choice of the theme underlined the realities of Africa’s water security and sanitation situation and the urgent need to implement those commitments made by the political leadership in accelerating progress towards the achievement of the MDGs and the African Water Vision and Framework for Action targets for water and sanitation.

With the theme “achieving the SDGs on Water Security and Sanitation,” the sixth Africa Water Week, organised by African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW), aspires to lay the building blocks for Africa to achieve the SDG-6 as well as other inter-linking SDGs connected with water resources management and improved sanitation service delivery. It also represents the quest in the continent to place emphasis on matching commitments and plans with concrete actions with impact on the ground.