Ethiopia’s water management has a BRIGHT future
Water management in five Ethiopian river basins is being strengthened through the use of better hydrological data monitoring systems, following a working agreement between the country’s Water and Land Resource Centre (WLRC) and Netherlands-based non-profit World Waternet.
A BRIGHT-er future for water security in Ethiopia
The WLRC is a research and knowledge centre based in Ethiopia that supports the government and local communities with data, training, and practical solutions for improving the management of natural resources, such as water and the environment.
WLRC is a member of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), which is a global network that aims to document, share, and apply sustainable land management knowledge with member organisations around the world.
World Waternet will support WLRC in implementing the BRIGHT (Basin Management Support for Resilient, Inclusive Growth and Harmonized Transformation) initiative in five of Ethiopia’s key river basins - Abbay, Upper Awash, Omo-Gibe, Rift Valley, and Tekezie, as part of the country’s Integrated Water Resources Management Plan (IWRMP).
Together, the five river basins represent 70 per cent of the country’s entire landmass and more than 73 per cent of its total water potential. The initiative is expected to impact as many as 80 million people, providing them with more reliable access to clean water.
Ethiopia’s Integrated Water Resources Management Plan
Ethiopia’s Integrated Water Resources Management Plan (IWRMP) aims to improve the resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. One of its stated goals is to create sustainable living conditions through sustainable, equitable and efficient use of water resources in the Awash and Wabi Shebelle basins.
It is being implemented by the country’s Ministry of Water and Energy as part of the government’s 10 Year Perspective Development Plan (2021-2030), as well as the Ethiopian Home Grown Economic Reform (HGER).
According to the World Resources Institute, Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country. It suffers from water security issues based on recurring periods of drought brought on by high variability in rainfall and water distribution. These issues are further amplified by climate change, increasing demand, and soil erosion, among other factors.
Improving governance through data management
BRIGHT is an initiative of the Netherlands’ embassy in Ethiopia and the European Union. It aims to promote a better understanding within the Ministry of Water and Energy of data collection and management approaches.
It is one of a number of projects that the Netherlands’ embassy in Ethiopia has been active in supporting, through sharing the European country’s water expertise, and by promoting partnerships and collaborations.
In a statement, Maarten Wensing, partnership director, World Waternet for East Africa, explained: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and that’s especially true for water. Across Ethiopia’s rivers and reservoirs, too much remains unknown: how much water there is, where it flows, and what its quality is.”
He added: “This limited hydrological data currently poses a major barrier to evidence-based decision-making across Ethiopia’s water sector. Collecting accurate information on rainfall, groundwater, river levels, combined with the water quality of these water bodies, will lay the foundation for more efficient operations and sustainable management practices.”
The foundations of long-term water resilience
As part of the initiative, World Waternet will offer its expertise in peer learning strategies to provide targeted and on-the-job coaching for Ministry staff. User-friendly manuals, dashboards, and data workflows tailored to national and regional needs will also be produced, along with a robust exit strategy that will enable local groups to take ownership of water resource management moving forward. This is to ensure that once the agreement ends, the Ministry has the tools, technical knowledge and operational capacity to tackle water security issues through improved data management.
World Waternet will also provide support with procurement and integration of hydrometric equipment compatible with the national Basin Information System (BIS).
Dr Gete Zeleke, director of the WLRC, said: “Now the foundation to work together is strong. This collaboration builds on years of trust and technical exchange. With this start, we aim to lay the foundations for long-term resilience in Ethiopia’s water sector.”
