UN Appeals for Groundwater Protection as Large Tracts of Africa Battle Drought
Climate change 23/03/2022 •
A family feeds their cattle with straw plucked from the roof of their home in Adadle in the Somali region of Ethiopia.

As global water experts meet at the World Water Forum in Senegal this week, large swathes of Africa are facing famine as severe droughts prevail in the Horn of Africa and large parts of southern Africa.

“Harvests are ruined, livestock is dying and families are bearing the consequences of increasingly frequent climate extremes,” according to Michael Dunford, the UN World Food Programme’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa. 

The countries most affected are Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia in the east, and Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique and Namibia in the south.

The UN launched its World Water Development Report at the forum to coincide with World Water Day on Wednesday, appealing for better management of groundwater, which is usually stored in aquifers, many of which are vulnerable to climate change and human settlements. 

Aquifers are under threat in rapidly expanding low-income cities, including Dakar (Senegal) and Lusaka (Zambia), as well as informal communities reliant on on-site sanitation where “the increased frequency of extreme rainfall can amplify leaching of surface and near-surface contaminants”, warns the report.

Low-storage, low-recharge aquifer systems in drylands, such as Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) and Ouagadougou(Burkina Faso), are also at risk, in situations where “alternative perennial water sources are limited or do not exist, and recharge is episodic so that even small reductions in recharge can lead to groundwater depletion”, the report warns.

 

Lack of research

Meanwhile, information about the impact of climate change on Africa is scarce, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change latest (sixth) report on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.

“Many countries lack regularly reporting weather stations, and data access is often limited. From 1990–2019 research on Africa received just 3.8% of climate-related research funding globally: 78% of this funding went to EU and North American institutions and only 14.5% to African institutions,” notes the IPCC report in a special section on Africa.

“Increased funding for African partners, and direct control of research design and resources can provide more actionable insights on climate risks and adaptation options in Africa.”

To address this, the World Water Council and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)  launched a new programme this week to produce new data, evidence and policy guidance on water security in Africa. 

“With 250 million Africans expected to live in water-stressed areas by 2030, and 60% of the population expected to live in cities by 2050, now is the time to get water policies right for sustainable development in Africa,” according to Jose Angel Gurria Trevino, OECD’s Secretary-General.

Image Credits: Michael Tewelde / World food Programme.

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