Botswana<\/a>, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, water is a big story. The four countries share the Orange-Senqu Basin, which covers about 1 million square kilometres. The basin is home to more than 14 million people, according to an Orange-Senqu River Commission Secretariat\u00a0(ORASECOM) basin survey.<\/p>\nThe Orange-Senqu River begins in Lesotho and runs west towards the Atlantic. Its basin crosses mountains, the Highveld, the Karoo, the Kalahari and the Namib.<\/p>\n
That geography makes managing water a regional task. Rainfall varies sharply across the basin. ORASECOM records average annual rainfall of 755mm in Lesotho, compared with 185mm in Namibia. Botswana averages 295mm. South Africa averages 365mm.<\/p>\n
The river system is also heavily used. It contains 23 major dams and connects with other river systems through six inter-basin transfer schemes.<\/p>\n
The new US$2 million project will establish the Orange-Senqu Water Fund under ORASECOM. It will finance ecosystem restoration, pollution control, water conservation and climate-resilient water security.<\/p>\n
HOW WILL THE WATER SECURITY FUND HELP?<\/p>\n
The fund aims to tackle a problem familiar across Southern Africa. Plans exist, but turning them into lasting projects can be difficult when money and capacity are limited.<\/p>\n
The fund will provide long-term finance for agreed priorities. It will also combine funding from governments, donors and private companies that rely on a healthy river system.<\/p>\n
That could support cleaner waterways, healthier ecosystems and better water conservation. It could also help countries prepare for changing rainfall and competing demands.<\/p>\n
Lesotho has a particular role because it contributes more than 40% of the basin\u2019s stream flow, although it occupies only about 3.4% of the basin\u2019s area.<\/p>\n
For South Africa, the stakes are substantial: About 64.2% of the basin lies within the country, according to ORASECOM.<\/p>\n
WHAT DOES MAURITIUS ADD TO THE PICTURE?<\/p>\n
Mauritius will receive US$2.9 million for a separate four-year Blue Carbon Horizons project. It will place mangroves, seagrasses and other coastal ecosystems into national adaptation and marine planning. These ecosystems can store carbon and provide coastal protection.<\/p>\n
The project will build a blue carbon knowledge base and help place natural infrastructure into climate planning.<\/p>\n
The two projects show why Southern Africa cannot treat water and climate as separate issues. A river basin needs investment before shortages, pollution and ecosystem damage become harder to reverse.<\/p>\n
For people living across the region, that matters in practical ways. Reliable water supports homes, agriculture, industry and natural ecosystems. The Orange-Senqu Water Fund will now have four years and US$2 million to help turn regional plans into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Water security can decide whether a Southern African community, farm or business can keep going. Nearly US$5 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[305,306,102,131,267,181293],"class_list":["post-378968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-namibia","tag-featured","tag-important","tag-namibia","tag-south-africa","tag-southern-africa","tag-water-security-project"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/117097951513503227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}