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Water management 'a concern'
16/05/2007 13:57 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Water management remains a great concern in the southern African region, much of which had poor rain this summer, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Wednesday.
World Conservation Union regional water programme co-ordinator Lenka Thamae, who is based in Harare, said governments from the southern Africa region should try to improve water management policies and strategies to sustain all water-influenced sectors.
Thamae was speaking at the five-day Integrated Water Resources Management Stakeholders' Dialogue underway in Maputo, Mozambique.
More than 40 representatives from the 14 countries that make up the Southern Africa Development Community were attending.
Thamae said without proper regional collaboration on water utilisation and river and dam management, the region was under threat because most of the water it has flows through shared water courses.
"The region is vulnerable to climate change, which is bringing prolonged dry spells and causing flooding, especially in Madagascar, Mozambique, parts of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
'Watering development'
"We need to find ways of dealing with the problems of limited capacity and co-ordination among water-oriented institutions," Thamae said.
This year's conference focused mainly on "watering development," a concern raised at last year's water conference in Namibia.
Water experts had said there was need to increase applications of water demand management and focus on developing water resources to improve water supply in critical sectors such as agriculture.
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