AN OVERVIEW OF WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE VOLTA BASIN WITH RESPECT TO FLOODS AND DROUGHT FIRST STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT TOOLS PROJECT 1 to 3 MARCH 2015, THE VIC HOTEL, KISUMU, KENYA BY Dr. Charles A. BINEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VBA and Dr. Jacob W. TUMBULTO, Director, VB Observatory
1. VB Member States Length of River: 1850 km Area : 400.000 km 2
1. The basin at a glance Population : 70 % rural 19 M (2000) ; 35 M (2025) Country % Area of basin % Population Benin 3.41 2.56 Burkina Faso 42.9 47.6 Cote d Ivoire 2.48 2.13 Ghana 41.6 35.8 Mali 3.12 3.35 Togo 6.41 8.55 Human Development Index < 0,5 (2009) 1 0.5 0 HDI
1. VB Surface Waters Subbasin White Volta Black Volta Area (km2) Mean Flow (m 3 /s) % Contribution 104,749 220 20 149,015 200 18 Oti 72,778 280 26 Others 36
2. ESTABLISHMENT OF VBA Ouagadougou, January 2007 Heads of State sign VBA Convention Ouagadougou, November 2007 Ministers sign Statutes of VBA VBA Convention came into force on 14 August 2009
2. The Permanent Organs of VBA 1. The Conference of Heads of State and Government; 2. The Council of Ministers in Charge of Water Resources; 3. The Forum of Parties for the Development of the Volta Basin; 4. Committee of Experts ; 5. The Executive Directorate NB: NATIONAL FOCAL STRUCTURES ( NFS)
2. MANDATE OF VBA 1. Promote permanent consultation tools among the parties for the development of the basin; 2. Promote implementation of IWRM and equitable distribution of the benefits resulting from their utilization; 3. Authorize the development of infrastructure and projects planned by the stakeholders, which could have substantial impact on water resources; 4. Develop joint projects and works; 5. Contribute to poverty alleviation, sustainable development in the Volta basin, and for better socioeconomic integration in the sub-region.
2. Statutes of VBA PART II : Specific Objectives : Article 2: 2. To harmonize national policies relating to management of the water resources of the Volta basin, through IWRM; 3. To mobilize human, technical, and financial resources necessary for undertaking studies, research activities and works for sustainable management of water resources..; 4. To coordinate studies, research activities and works initiated in the basin for the development of the water resources of the basin
2. VBA Strategic Plan (2010-14) More focused approach on priorities of the Volta Basin i. Strengthening policies, legislation and institutional framework; ii. Strengthening the knowledge base of the basin; iii. Coordination, planning and management; iv. Communication and capacity building for all stakeholders; v. Effective and sustainable operations.
3. VBA Observatory Overall Objective: Contribute to ensure sustainable utilization of water resources in the Volta basin whilst preserving and even regenerating degraded environment The Observatory Is a multi-sectorial operational tool An information and communication tool A decision support tool
3. Major Themes of the new Plan 8 Major Themes Political Process Financing Mechanisms Representation and Participation Legal System Planning Internal Resources Knowledge Monitoring and Evaluation Communication
3. OBSERVATORY = A PROCESS Component 1 : Carry out Baseline situation analysis in the basin Component 2 : Establishment of the Observatory Component 3 : Involvement of stakeholders in water and environmental management (cross-cutting component) Characterisation of water uses (Water supply, irrigation, livestock, ) and assessment of associated demand Characterisation of water resources availability (surface, groundwater) Summary of supply and demand Characterisation of challenges (MDG, ) and the problems related to the management of water as it affects related ecosystems (Sanitary risk ) Progressive development of computerised tools for communication and decision support (definition of indicators for monitoring the challenges and problems, data collection, analysis of useful data and calculation of indicators) Develop a reference situation in 2 stages (initial and consolidated), with the view to having regular updates Capacity building (methodologies, network of data collectors, interoperability between data sources, format for data / information exchange) Implication of all the stakeholders at all the stages (consensus on the problems and the means to evaluate them; data collection and validation ) Capacity building of the stakeholders Facilitate effective decsion making (management of water and environment & governance) Innovative component
3. Observatory Concept and collaboration with National Partners Monitor (Trends in space and time) Inform, communicate (background, challenges, problems, and risks) OBSERVATORY Understand (Trends) Correct, anticipate (Negative impacts of water and environmental management)
OBSERVATORY = AN ORGANISATION NFS RCI NFS Ghana NFS Bénin NFS Mali NFS Burkina NFS : National Focal Structures VBA (Observatory ) NFS Togo
4. Situations Requiring Joint-action for Flood Management in the Basin Wide-spread flooding in parts of the Volta basin Lery dam operation in Burkina Faso (BF- Mali) Operation of Bagre dam Spillway; BF- GH Percieved flooding of Togo from Kompienga dam operation; BF-Togo
5. On-going initiatives on flood management Volta-HYCOS Project VBA Observatory Project Flood information exchange between SONABEL and VRA on Bagre dam releases Joint flood management between Burkina Faso and Mali Sourou River (HEC-RAS model) West African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and adapted Land Use (WASCAL) Planned training in Hydrological Modeling and Flood Forecasting
5. Weakness at the National and Regional Levels Obsolete data collection instruments Rehabilitation and extension and of national networks required; Communication equipment for the transmission of data to national as well as regional data centers Tools for data processing and analysis Training
Thanks for your attention www.abv-volta.org