| Chapter 1: | Water Resources Development and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
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hostage by its hydrology. Although it may be impossible to definitively ascertain the extent to which this shift reflects a new alignment between the interests of global lenders and African countries, there is growing evidence that the shift is translating to increased water resources development on the ground in SSA. Further, governments as well as international and national development agencies have belatedly begun to recognize the value of accumulated knowledge and participatory approaches in decision making for socially just and sustainable natural resources management (Knox & Meinzen-Dick, 2001).
Given the recent rate of prefeasibility and feasibility assessments in SSA countries, combined with the level of on-the-ground construction, one could even go so far as to say that the region has embarked on a new era of dam building. An immediate impetus for such recent developments is mitigation of the crippling power shortages faced due to growing demand, which disrupt economic activities and are virtually unavoidable in African capitals such as Accra, Kinshasa, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa. Tangible developments are now taking place in the Volta, Niger, Nile, Congo, and Omo/Lake Turkana basins and speculation is rife that development is forthcoming in the Zambezi Basin.
Renewed dam construction and irrigation development requires that water, environmental, and health planners, administrators, and community workers must play a greater role in creating an environment in SSA that is conducive to the evolution of sustainable water resources management by contributing to reducing negative impacts of widespread water-related diseases, pollution, and flood hazards and increasing human capital (King, 1996; World Commission on Dams, 2000). One or more of these issues are addressed in most chapters and discussed in greater detail in chapters 6 and 10 to 14.