| Chapter 1: | Water Resources Development and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
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It should be further noted that water resources development in SSA is distributed highly unevenly across regions. Of the 980 large dams in SSA contained in the World Commission on Dams database (World Commission on Dams, 2000), for example, 539 (or 55%) are located in South Africa. By comparison, Tanzania, a country only slightly smaller in area and population than South Africa, possesses only two large dams. More generally, while withdrawal in southern African countries and Egypt is quite high, eastern, western, and central Africa withdrawal tends to be low (World Resources Institute, 2007). Thus, for most countries in SSA, even the low average numbers presented in table 1.1 vastly overstate conditions on the ground.
The logical corollary to SSA's relatively low levels of total water withdrawal and storage is its comparatively low level of irrigation and hydropower development. Per capita irrigated area is lower in SSA than any other region (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2003), limiting the quantity of food which can be produced and the ability of the continent to take the same advantage of the Green Revolution as did Asia. This fact partially contributes to the region's low levels of food consumption and high rates of malnutrition (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2003). Similarly, hydropower generation in SSA lags behind other regions of the world. Indeed, 75% of Europe's hydropower potential has been developed, 69% of North America's, 33% of South America's, and 22% of Asia's. In Africa (both SSA and North Africa), however, only 7% of the continent's hydropower potential has been harnessed (International Hydropower Association, 2003).
Socioeconomic Constraints
Corresponding with SSA's globally low levels of irrigation and hydropower development is its high level of poverty. Similarly, the poorest and most hunger-prone countries worldwide, all of which are agriculture-based economies, face the most serious freshwater problems (Falkenmark & Rockström, 2006). SSA stands out as the world's poorest region by almost any socioeconomic indicator, for example, per capita food consumption as just mentioned, the Poverty Index, and the Human Development Index