Water Resources Management in Ethiopia: Implications for the Nile ...

Chapter 1

Water Resources Development and Management in Sub-saharan Africa

Overview and Global Context

Jonathan Lautze, Mark Giordano, and Helmut Kloos

Introduction

With 9% of the world's water resources and 11% of its population (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 2003), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) cannot, on the whole, be considered water poor by global standards. Nonetheless, freshwater withdrawal, development of hydropower, and the area of irrigated land are lower on a per capita basis in SSA than any other major region of the world. At the same time, SSA