Over the summer I was visiting home, Egypt, spending time in Sharm El Sheikh where I had seen first-hand how important the COP27 was for the people and government. The district was under complete refurbishment, from streetlights, to the hotel renovations. In this blog we will be concluding the ‘Political Enigma’, by discussing the global scale response, including the Africa water vision for 2025 and the COP27.
The COP27 and Africa Water Vision
The IPCC assessment that was addressed during the COP27 summit highlighted that climate change was a major contributing factor to water scarcity in Africa. It found that extreme weather has become more frequent, contributing to increased flooding and drought in some of the African regions. The report also found that human activity is exacerbating these weather conditions, and thus key elements in the hydrological cycle too, leading to further water insecurity in countries with socio-economic disparities. Some eye opening figures presented during the summit was that there was an increased frequency of droughts which had caused an estimated 650,000 deaths worldwide, of which the majority was in Africa (UNFCCC, 2022).
The Africa Water Vision (AWV) is a scheme run buy different regions across Africa where its aim is to spread ‘equity and sustainability’ of water management, in hopes of relieving water stresses in areas of poverty and famine. Unlike the COP27, the AWV works without the need for direct political commitment, but on a common goal or understanding of the issues present (UN, 2018). They also recognise that there is significant correlation between socio economic development and cooperation of governments. The strategic priorities include; ensuring a safe, and well managed water management; including better sanitation and hygiene, contributions towards sustainable financing of water and management systems, and promotion of water governance along transboundary cooperation.
COP27 summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Promised actions
Some of the concrete actions promised by the summit was in line with the AWV strategies on transboundary cooperation with water management legislations. This has been implemented through the development of the Gambia River in 2015, its goal being to rationalise the management of the common resources of the river and the associations between neighbouring nations, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal (UNFCCC, 2022). Objectively this provided a better distribution of hydroelectricity to the surrounding population, in a more environmentally and economically sustainable manner. Similarly, private companies including AB-InBev promised also to replace its barley produce to a more environmentally sustainable option, cassava.
For the AWV initiative, agendas set for 2030 included protection and restoration of water reservoirs for maintaining important ecosystems and eliminating dumping of harmful chemicals and untreated wastewater that further harm these reservoirs. This would be suitable particularly for Lake Victoria, we discussed the implications this had on it.
