Stockholm International Water Institute » Ana Cascao

Land Acquisitions: How Will They Impact Transboundary Waters?

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:56:45 +0000

This exploratory report investigates how the current surge in land acquisitions and investments by foreign countries, sovereign wealth funds and private corporations, as well as domestic investors, will affect transboundary water management, an area where current knowledge is sparse. The majority of land deals tend to be made in places with low land lease prices, weak legislation, inexpensive labour and relative abundance of land and water and very few include regulations or agreements for water used on the acquired territories. With many of the largest land leasing countries located on the transboundary water basins, shared waters will be affected with unknown implications for regional relations. Two case illustrations in the Nile and Niger basin regions are presented to explore how land acquisitions have affected global, regional, national and local actors in those areas and point out key questions that require more research.

Report published in 2012.

South Sudan – At the Nile’s Hydropolitical Crossroads

Nora — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:50:17 +0000

On the 9th of July, 2011 the Republic of South Sudan became the newest country in the world and the 55th independent state in Africa, after a complex political process that started when the continent was experiencing its first waves of independence and lasted more than half a century. SIWIs Ana Cascao reflects on the potential effects of South Sudans independence on hydropolitics in the Nile Basin.

Article in Stockholm Water Front, issue no 2, 2011.

Regional Water Intelligence Report – The Nile Basin and the Southern Sudan Referendum

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:49:16 +0000

Regional Water Intelligence Reports The purpose of the Regional Water Intelligence Reports (RWIR) is to provide regular updates on the political economy of transboundary water resources issues, management and development. The RWIR focuses on the socio-economic aspects of water management and highlight the links between water, energy, food and human security from a regional perspective. This RWIR provides an analysis of the political landscape at the national and regional level in the Nile Basin including a political and legal analysis of the upcoming Southern Sudan referendum 2011. The objective is to prepare a base line to analyse key political events and their potential impact on Nile cooperation, within the framework of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), with a specific focus on the upcoming referendum in Southern Sudan. Some recommendations are explored that the international community could consider taking in the post referendum process to strengthen development and cooperation. The analysis of political events provides input to further analysis on the political economy of water in the Nile basin. The report does not provide a detailed overview of the NBI process to date which is provided elsewhere. Input to the RWIR is based on public referenced information and confidential interviews.

Report: Land acquisitions – How will they impact transboundary waters?

Nora — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:54:08 +0000

A new exploratory report, Land acquisitions: How will they impact transboundary waters? investigates how the current surge in land acquisitions and investments by foreign countries, sovereign wealth funds, private corporations and domestic investors will affect transboundary water management. an area where current knowledge is sparse.

According to the report, the majority of land deals tend to be made in places with low land lease prices, weak legislation, inexpensive labour and relative abundance of land and water and very few include regulations or agreements for water used on the acquired territories. With many of the largest land leasing countries located on the transboundary water basins, shared waters will be affected with unknown implications for regional relations. Two case illustrations in the Nile and Niger basin regions are presented to explore how land acquisitions have affected global, regional, national and local actors in those areas and point out key questions that require more research.

Download the full report here.

Read the Press Release from the report launch.

Key messages from the report:

- Land investment is a water investment. Water is often presumed to be included without explicitly being mentioned in land lease agreements.

- Regional Economic Communities (RECs), River Basin Organisations (RBOs) and regional organisations have little or no role in the land acquisitions on record to date. Large land deals will, however, very likely impact their mandate and ability to function.

- The type of water (green water or blue water and the intensity of its use) used for the land investments determines its effect on transboundary water management.

- Water that is being used for irrigation in land leased by foreign parties does not feature in the transboundary discussions in many, if not all, shared basins.

- Water needs should be put into the land acquisition contracts in order to clarify the water requirements of the investors´ projects and to regulate their water use.

- Sustainable water use should be acknowledged explicitly in the international standards for responsible agro-business investments.

SIWI partners with Botswana government for more effective water management

Nora — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:16:30 +0000

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the Botswana Department of Water Affairs are jointly implementing a two-year capacity building programme to support the restructuring of Botswana’s water sector.

An arid country with a dispersed population, Botswana faces major challenges in water resources management and service provision. The country’s dry climate is exacerbated by high rainfall variability, with years of drought commonly being followed by flooding in local areas. The Government of Botswana has recently reviewed its national water master plan and embarked on mission to restructure the country’s water sector. In July 2011, SIWI – a policy institute with an internationally renowned track record in water sector capacity building – and the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources of Botswana signed a Memorandum of Understanding for SIWI’s support in this process. Over the past year, SIWI has worked with Botswana’s government to develop a series of training courses, which will run from March 2012 – December 2013.

This programme is jointly funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Government of Botswana.

Smarter structure for water governance in Botswana
Water resource management and water supply services in Botswana are governed under the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, which divided management between the Department of Water Affairs and the Water Utilities Corporation. In the past, the Water Utilities Corporation was responsible for water supply in urban areas, while the Department of Water Affairs was in charge of both water resources management and water supply service provision in rural areas. Administration was further complicated by district councils that were responsible for local water and sewer reticulation. The current changes will give the Department of Water Affairs exclusive mandate over water resources policy and management, while the Water Utilities Corporation will be responsible for water supply and wastewater management for the entire country.

Land acquisitions and water

Nora — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:03:10 +0000

Following the food price crisis in 2007-2008, a surge in large-scale land acquisitions have taken place around the globe. The total volume of land that is currently leased or acquired is still unclear, as many deals lack transparency. What is clear is that land deals will impact many developing countries, with unknown implications on the sustainable use of land and water resources.

SIWI’s research brings the ‘water perspective’ into the international discourse on land deals. The most common purpose of the recent land acquisitions is agricultural production, which means that land without enough water to grow crops has no value to investors. SIWI has been actively participating in the global discussion on the large-scale land acquisitions, particularly its connection to transboundary waters (e.g. the Nile), virtual water trading, water security and water rights.

Project Info

Project team: Anders Jägerskog, Ana Cascão, Kyungmee Kim
Partners: Nordic Africa Institute, Swedish Agricultural University, Uppsala University, Gothenburg University
Timeline: 2011 – ongoing
Links and resources: Jägerskog, A., Cascao, A., Hårsmar, M. and Kim. K., (2012), “Land Acquisitions: How Will They Impact Transboundary Waters?“. Report Nr. 30, SIWI, Stockholm.

Regional capacity building programme on water integrity in sub-Saharan Africa

admin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:18:40 +0000

In 2008 the UNDP-Water Governance Facility at SIWI (WGF), together with Cap-Net and WaterNet, mapped regional and national policies, institutions, laws and regulations, and active projects to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in the water sector in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. One of the key recommendations of the study was to build capacity in water integrity for staff at regional, national and local level, including various river basin organizations, as well as government and municipal entities. This need for capacity building was also reflected by the 2008 Global Corruption Report in the water sector, and expressed through the 2009 Water Integrity Network (WIN) surveys.

Funded by the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), this current project will implement a Regional Capacity Building Programme over a 3 year period to promote and enhance water integrity in sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected that increasing water integrity will directly impact on socio-economic development and poverty reduction. Indeed, unethical practices reduce economic growth, discourage investments, violate human dignity, increase health risks and compromise efforts to reduce poverty. The implementing partners are (1) WGF (2) the Stockholm International Water Institute – SIWI, (3) the Water Integrity Network – WIN, and (4) Cap-Net in collaboration with WaterNet.

Through partnership with ECOWAS, EAC-Lake Victoria Basin Commission and SADC, the programme targets water sector stakeholders (those responsible for the management of water resources and for integrated water supply and sanitation services) at regional, basin and national levels who are responsible for regulation, controlling, planning, policy development and decision making. It also targets stakeholders that are less directly involved in water management, but have a key role in strengthening or demanding accountability, such as water users associations, advocacy organisations and the media.

Generally, ECOWAS, EAC and SADC countries have committed themselves to integrity and accountability through good governance and the promotion of transparency and accountability. Their secretariats, together with the implementing partners of this programme, will reinforce the regional efforts to bolster integrity at all levels in the water management and service delivery chain.

Project info

Link and resrouces: http://www.watergovernance.org/integrity/SSA
Project team: James Leten, Maria Jacobson, Marianne Kjellen, Ana Cascao, Rami Abdel Rahman
Client and partners: ECOWAS, EAC-Lake Victoria Basin Commission, and SADC. Implemented by Water Integrity Network (WIN), Capnet and WaterNet
Financed by Sida
Timeline: July 2011-June 2014