Global Policy Forum

Dwindling water resources in Africa could lead to conflicts and food shortages, experts attending an international conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said this week. Unsustainable use of water, poor management, pollution, increasing consumption and rapid population growth were fuelling water shortages, according to the experts attending the "Water for Food and Ecosystems" conference. The meeting, which opened on Thursday and was due to end on Saturday, was organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the African Union (AU), the Dutch and Ethiopian governments. Delegates warned that much more water would be needed to feed the world's growing population - projected to rise from about six billion at present to 8.9 billion by 2050.

"Demand for water is rapidly increasing," said Rob Vermass, the Dutch ambassador to Ethiopia at the opening of the conference. He stressed that increasing consumption and global population growth is further straining resources, and that pollution would lead to outbreaks of disease. "These developments are not sustainable and it may increasingly lead to conflicts not only in Africa," added Vermass in a keynote speech. More than two thirds of Africa's 60 river basins are shared by more than one country, further fuelling potential clashes.

Water scarcity posed great health risks, according to Rosebud Kurwijila, the AU's commissioner for rural economy and agriculture. "It threatens to undermine the continent's potential to achieve food self-sufficiency and food security – a situation which could compromise the very survival of its human population," said Kurwijila. More than five million people die from waterborne diseases each year, 10 times the number killed in wars around the globe, according to UN figures. In Africa, water scarcity afflicts 300 million people and claims at least 6,000 lives a year. The UN estimates that by 2025, about one in two Africans will be living in countries that are confronted with water stress or water scarcity.

Experts at the meeting were drawing up an action plan for international agreement at a water summit in The Hague during February 2005. The FAO estimates that it would take US $37 billion to double irrigation use in Africa by 2015. And the UN-backed World Commission on Water estimated that an additional $100 billion a year would be needed to tackle water scarcity worldwide. A key 2015 Millennium Development Goal is to reduce half the number of people without access to safe water. However, the conference said these targets were a long way off.

Only $4 billion is spent per year on water supply and sanitation. Louise Fresco, assistant director general of the FAO said. New water management systems and practices must be found to match growing agricultural demands. She added that Africa lags behind other continents in harnessing its water supplies. Only seven percent of African agricultural land is irrigated, compared to almost half in southern Asia. Just five percent of "renewable fresh water" is used in Africa compared with a fifth in Asia. "There is, thus, great potential to address the needs of Africa in food, poverty reduction and ecosystems," said Fresco.

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