ZACPRO 6'2 PROJECT

1
ZACPRO 6.2 PROJECT

• MALAWI
• NATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE

2
INTRODUCTION

• The Malawi National Steering Committee was
  launched on November 4, 2003.
• Since the launch the committee has held three
  meetings
• First Meeting August 20, 2004
• Second meeting August 25, 2005
• Third Meeting November 24-25, 2005

3
THE LAUNCH
The Honourable Luwe, M. P. Deputy Minister of
Water Development is sitting fifth from the left
in the front row.
4
THE LAUNCH

• Presided over by the Deputy Minister of
  Irrigation and Water Development
• Attended by
• Senior representatives of stakeholder
  institutions
• Members of Parliament
• Parastatal organisations and Academia
• Chiefs from some riparian countries
• National Consultants from some riparian
  countries
• ZAMCOM Water Expert.

5
FIRST MEETING MAIN ISSUES

• Agreed to the composition of the National
  Steering Committee
• Resolved to establish and strengthen awareness
  building among the people on the Goals,
  Objectives and activities of the project in the
  country
• Build strong partnerships with other relevant
  programmes such as PAWD Project
• Draft Rules of Procedure.

6
COMPOSITION OF THE MALAWI NATIONAL STEERING
COMMITTEE

• Three representatives from the Ministry
  responsible for Water Affairs one of whom shall
  be the Chairperson of the National Steering
  Committee. The other would come from the Water
  Boards. Where the Chairperson is unable to attend
  any of the meetings, anyone of the other two
  representatives shall chair the meeting on
  his/her behalf
• One representative from the Ministry of
  Agriculture and Food Security
• One representative from the Department of Energy
• One representative from Industry
• One representative from the Department of
  Environmental Affairs
• Two Traditional Authorities
• University of Malawi (Chancellor College)
• Mzuzu University
• Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for
  Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Freshwater Project representing CONGOMA
• Malawi Water Partnership representing national
  scientific networks
• Ministry of Justice
• National Youth Council of Malawi
• Ministry of Tourism and
• National Consultant.

7
SECOND MEETING MAIN ISSUES

• Concluded the composition of the NSC
• Finalised the NSC Rules of Procedure
• Arranged for the hosting of the Project Steering
  Committee (PSC) meeting (October 2005)
• Drafted NSC Action Matrix 2005/2006

8
THIRD MEETING MAIN ISSUES

• Review of the ZACPRO 6.2 PSC Meeting held in
  Malawi in October 2005
• Shire Valley Irrigation Scheme
• Shire Zambezi Waterway Project
• IWRM initiatives and Plans

9
HOSTING OF THEPROJECT STEERING COMMITTEE
10
OBSERVATIONS

• There is need to increase the frequency of
  meetings (quarterly) as agreed and adopted by the
  NSC
• Move to next steps of outlining challenges and
  prepare an action programme
• People must now begin to see action on the ground.

11
CHALLENGES TO BE ADDRESSED

• Awareness
• IWRM is rarely understood by a large cross
  section of the society in the country and
  awareness building programmes have to be
  strengthened. Strengthened because the process
  has begun and must be extended to the grassroots
  level.
• Water Availability
• Although the country has huge water resources in
  its lakes and rivers, the location is often in
  the wrong places. Against rising population and
  incidences of extreme weather events, the issue
  of water scarcity should be considered as an
  urgent matter.

12
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Water Resources Degradation
• Pollution of surface and groundwater resources is
  a growing problem and is making water resources
  unavailable for use without expensive
  pre-treatment.
• Causes of water resources degradation in Malawi
• Effluent disposal
• Mainly from industrial establishments in the
  cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu and the
  Municipality of Zomba

13
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Siltation of river systems
• As a result of the excessive pressures exerted
  on the land resources such as deforestation which
  lead to soil erosion. In addition there are
  increased levels of suspended solids and
  turbidity in river systems requiring service
  providers to incur high costs in water treatment.
  An opportunity exists to reverse present trend
  through tree-planting programmes.
• Chemical Contamination
• Due to increased use of agrochemicals such as
  fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and
  insecticides. Some of the chemicals may encourage
  the dominance of aquatic weeds as they become
  fertilised resulting in eutrophication of the
  water bodies and loss of aquatic life.

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Encroachment of protected areas
• Average population density for Malawi is 107
  people/km2 (Chenje 2000) although other estimates
  put the density to 105 people/km2 (UNDP 2002) and
  therefore the demand for land is high.
  Encroachment upon protected areas such as
  National Parks and wetlands is common resulting
  in deforestation for human settlement and
  cultivation. Encroachment upon marginal areas is
  also common especially on land of up to 16.
  These activities result in reduced base flows,
  deterioration of water quality, and reduced
  groundwater recharged rates, increased turbidity
  of water in river and reservoirs and increased
  incidences of flooding.

17
(No Transcript)
18
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Institutional and Legal Constraints
• The Water Resources Act and other Acts that
  govern the use and management of water resources
  have been found to be inadequate since they do
  not consider all the relevant issues related to
  water resources management. At the heart of the
  problem is the issue of enforcement and what
  punitive measures are necessary for those that do
  not abide by the regulations.

19
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Capacity Building
• Capacity building should be guided by a clear
  understanding of institutional roles and
  responsibilities in the context of
  decentralisation. At the centre of capacity
  building are issues of management, human
  resources, skill development, organisational
  development, training and the mobilisation of
  financial resources.

20
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Standards, Procedures and specifications
• The provision of water and sanitation services
  is performed by a number of organisations and
  institutions. This has led to a proliferation of
  approaches and procedures and a lack of
  standardisation. Technical specifications for
  water and sanitation facilities are very variable
  and this leads to cost variations. Sometimes the
  basis for these cost variations are not obvious,
  other than the fact that the different procedures
  may incur different expenditures.

21
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Disaster management
• Limited efforts have been made to utilise
  forecasting models for flood warning and early
  drought monitoring
• There is only very limited flood forecasting
  infrastructure desperately requiring
  rehabilitation and expansion
• As a result, response to disaster is reactive.

22
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Governance of natural resources
• Natural resources use and management must be
  carried out at the local level following the
  recent decentralisation policy of the government.
  This must be supported by direct supervision from
  relevant line ministries.
• Sustainability of water and sanitation
  infrastructure
• For effective implementation, sustainability and
  operation and maintenance of water and sanitation
  projects, there is need for capacity at
  grassroots level. The basics of CBM have become
  institutionalized in many programmes and projects
  and this is having a positive impact on the
  maintenance of water points within communities.

23
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Conflicts
• Conflicts and tensions are possible within
  basins based on water use and management which
  could hamper IWRM particularly for transboundary
  water resources.
• HIV/AIDS
• HIV/AIDS is no longer simply a public health
  issue but a major concern to sustainable
  integrated water resources development and
  management. It cuts across agencies, disciplines
  and national boundaries.

24
CHALLENGES (Continued)

• Financing in the water sector
• Funding for water and sanitation services is
  necessary for countries to achieve the Millennium
  Development Goals (MDGs) and the Johannesburg
  water and sanitation targets by 2015.

25
THE WAY FORWARD

• Political support for the project
• The Project is receiving excellent political
  support and government has already has already
  approved plans to hold the Secretariat.
• Water Resources Monitoring Network
• Requires adequate financing for rehabilitation
  and expansion.
• Surface water projects (..CBNRM)
• Especially dams for activities that will generate
  wealth for the people.
• Groundwater Projects
• Need for groundwater mapping and details of
  groundwater infrastructure such as boreholes.
• Awareness building in IWRM
• Across the board as the concept is not well
  known.

26

• Capacity Building
• Essential, especially at the grassroots level to
  afford communities successfully run IWRM
  activities with minimum supervision
• Inclusiveness
• All sectors MUST be involved and should
  participate in IWRM programmes.
• Governance
• Encourage local-level governance of IWRM projects
  to encourage ownership and allow communities take
  responsibility.
• Catchment management committees
• These should be set up after finalising with the
  Shire River Basin
• Wealth creation
• IWRM projects should centre on wealth creation.

27

• Policy enforcement
• Necessary for compliance
• Monitoring
• Will be critical to ascertain if IWRM projects
  are achieving intended goals and objectives.
• Evaluation
• To review suitability of existing strategies in
  the implementation of programmes and projects
• Strategy Review
• If the intended goals and objectives are not
  being achieved.
• OTHER
• The above list of actions are not exhaustive.

28

• ZIKOMO