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Southern Africa has experienced some
dramatic changes in the past decade with the dismantling of the
bi-polar world and the end of the Apartheid regime, both of which
had drawn barriers across the region. In this new political
environment there are also new security issues to be considered.
One of these is undoubtedly the impending fresh water crisis
caused by both the scarcity and uneven distribution of the region's
surface water - 70% of which is shared by two or more states.
The disparity in accessing water that
is in many cases shared across national boundaries is already
a source of tension between states and many believe it will lead
to violent conflict - but this water is also, and more often,
the source of cooperation.
The availability of water is a cardinal
factor in the survival and development of states and peoples.
Of the estimated regional average of 152 cubic meters of water
required by each of the 145 million inhabitants of Southern Africa,
South Africans and Mauritanians each use 420 cubic meters, while
in Malawi average use is only 20 cubic meters per capita per
year. A redistribution is needed on a regional basis to mend
these imbalances, and states which have had more of a "head
start" in their exploitation of shared water resources need
to recognise the growing needs of others. In addition, we are
of course not only talking about water scarcity. Abundance of
water, at the wrong time, can be even more destructive than its
absence - as we have tragically seen in the past weeks in Mozambique
and elsewhere in the region. The regional efforts which are
currently being undertaken in Southern Africa to help a neighbour
in a time of emergency are a positive sign and have raised everyone's
awareness that water-related problems cannot be left to be solved
by individual countries, particularly poor, downstream countries,
on their own. Regional solidarity is needed for the prevention
of crises as well as during emergency relief.
Cooperation is the key - and must be
strengthened - as individual and uncoordinated action by the
region's countries is likely to result in conflict over water.
Joint anticipatory action both to improve, and make fairer,
the management and use of watercourses, and to establish dispute-resolution/prevention
mechanisms, will ensure that shared water is viewed as an opportunity
for cooperation and growth rather than a cause of conflict, especially
in a region which has already suffered so much from violence
and poverty.
This workshop was held to assist the
sharing of information and ideas among the states and peoples
of the region, and as a precursor to the Water for Peace in Southern
Africa panel debate to be held by Green Cross International at
the World Water Forum in the Hague on Monday 20 March 2000.
It was organised by the African Water Issues Research Unit of
the University of Pretoria, and jointly sponsored by Green Cross
International and ACCORD, the African Centre for the Constructive
Resolution of Disputes. The papers presented are reproduced
in the Water for Peace in the Middle East and Southern Africa
collection to be distributed by GCI at the World Water Forum,
and will also appear in a joint GCI-ACCORD monograph to be published
later this year.
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