Introduction: The Politics of Water in Africa!

Hello, and welcome to my blog on the politics of water and development in Africa!

To begin, I must preface I have never visited Africa! Perhaps this is what spurred me to initially select this module. However, as satirically expressed by Binyavanga Wainaina (2005), Africa is often spoken about in a distorted sense. It is often simplified as if it were a single country, with homogeneous communities roaming across romanticized landscapes in search of a Western saviour. Therefore, upon reflection, in order to avoid potential generalisations, I'll engage with case-specific examples.  

As a brief introduction, Africa entails the lowest % of national populations with access to 'at least basic drinking water services' (WH0-UNICEF, 2017). This stark contrast within the global context is illustrated in figure 2 below.     


Figure 1: 'Proportion of national population using at least basic drinking water services' (WH0-UNICEF, 2017)

Similarly, figure 2 illustrates water scarcity in Africa where much of the continent is dominated by regions with >1700 cubic M/capita/year (Damkjaer and Taylor, 2017). 


Figure 2: Map of water scarcity in Africa defined by the WSI (Damkjaer and Taylor, 2017)

Physical causes include low precipitation where for example the Sahara desert receives only 0-3 inches annually. Similarly, river flow in Southern Africa is the most variable globally! (Fanta et al., 2001) Furthermore, given higher air temperatures in the Tropics, precipitation is often more intense depleting the air of available moisture (Taylor et al., 2009). 

Population growth and urbanisation compound the issue. The population in cities such as Lagos and Nairobi experienced a 7x increase leading to the expansion of informal settlements (Hall et al., 2017). Inadequate governance therefore results in unsustainable stress on municipal resources contributing to the water scarcity patterns. 

Looking forward, this blogs aims to unpack the various political dynamics and mechanisms which produce and reproduce the contrasting water patterns across the continent. It will navigate through water wars, management strategies and sanitation.

I hope you enjoy reading, and don't hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments!
































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Community Management: A Suitable Model?

Image
On reflection, my posts so far have been dominated by conflict. Although this was a purposeful direction, I realised this route may overlook more subtle political discussions regarding water in Africa. Therefore, to try produce a more expansive blog, this post addresses the community-based model of water management. Community management offers an empowering, decentralised form of water governance situating end users as active decision-makers ( Schouten and Moriarty, 2003 ). By transferring ownership to communities and bypassing ineffective states, community-management offers a more pragmatic form of water supply. However, research points to woeful operational failure rates of 30-60% within Sub-Saharan-Africa countries ( Baumann, 2006 ).  Figure 1: Village meeting for community water project ( Source: CED ) Community-management appealed to overstretched governments and NGOs where they could transfer responsibility of provision to users with a 'clear conscience' ( Harvey and Reed
Read more

Sustainable management in the River Nile?

Image
Following last post, I was curious as to how trans-national water bodies have been managed. After viewing Planet Explore's fascinating video below, I felt the River Nile serves as an interesting case study.   Video - River Nile geopolitics ( Planet Explore ) The River Nile (figure 1) passes through 10 countries in Africa serving a population of approximately 400 million. Referred to as the 'cradle of civilization', the Nile supports the water supply of over half of the basin's population. Irrigation dominates aggregate withdrawal at 75%, and is particularly crucial for Lower Basin countries where rainwater is limited ( Swain, 2011 ).  Figure 1: The River Nile (Source: Hel-Hama ) Due to rising demands and uneven power relations, the Nile is susceptible to the 'water wars' outlined previously. But how has the River Nile been managed? Historically, Britain's colonial interests prioritised river flow to Egypt ( Laki, 1998 ). However, the 1960 Permanent Joint Te
Read more

Toilet Wars

Image
As the weeks have passed in writing this blog, my initial omission of sanitation became too blinding to ignore.  However, u pon reflection of how "water is life, but sanitation is dignity"  ( Thieme, 2018 ) , I've decided to  explore the 'poolitics' of sanitation in Cape Town and attempt to 'examine the unmentionable' ( George, 2008 ). Within Cape Town, approximately 500,000 citizens experience insufficient sanitary services. This is partly attributed to colonial social stratification which forced Africans to the peripheries with minimal infrastructural investment ( Laporte, 2000 ). Furthermore, rapid urbanisation has caused demand for municipality services to exceed supply ( Enqvist and Ziervogel, 2019 ). Consequentially, citizens are forced to inhabit lower rungs of the 'sanitation ladder'. As seen in figure 1, open defecation is common.  Figure 1: A child defecates along a motorway ( Masixole Feni, 2016 )  Recent sanitation policies such as the
Read more