| Chapter 1: | Water Resources Development and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
|
|
objective of economic development and poverty alleviation it is trying to retain a larger share of its crossboundary water, which constitutes more than 90% of its renewable freshwater resources (Okubagzhi, 2008), and has launched accelerated water storage, irrigation, and domestic water supply programs (Awulachew et al., 2005; Legesse, Haile Mariam, & Kloos, 2006). Although several large dams, thousands of microdams, and irrigation schemes of different sizes have been constructed and feasibility studies are underway in most administrative regions, there is a large discrepancy between Ethiopia's abundant water resources and the widespread water scarcity and drought conditions this country is known for. Increasing encroachment of competing agencies and activities on dwindling water resources and destructive pollution of freshwater resources and rapid population increase are prominent features of the landscape of most of the Nile Basin (Howell & Allan, 1994; Okubagzhi, 2008; see also Chapters 2 and 3), indicating that past transboundary and national water management strategies have failed. Highly regionalized distribution and accessibility of water resources in the Nile Basin and accelerating demand for water may result in a water crisis if the Nile Basin Initiative, a plan to promote development in the ten nations of the Nile Basin fails to materialize, as pointed out in chapter 2. But even if all riparian nations approve this plan, its emphasis on the construction of numerous large dams, an approach the World Commission on Dams (World Commission on Dams, 2000) questions in Africa because of the poor record of dams in that region, and the overall weak capacity to implement water development strategies makes it unlikely that the water-related problems besetting this region will be solved soon.
According to Abate (1994), who wrote the only other book on Ethiopia's water resources development and management, the two most promising approaches to achieving water security for human populations and the environment are water conservation facilitated by policy reform and by managing Ethiopia's water resources within an institutional framework for national and transboundary uses. He noted that these measures are prerequisites for Ethiopia's agricultural, hydroelectric, and industrial progress. Some of these changes have been made in the meantime,