MARTIN MAWAYA
BEIRA-MOZAMBIQUE-SADC senior programmes office for water, Dr Patrice Kandolo Kabeya has commended Mozambique and Zimbabwean governments for successfully launching Buzi, Pungwe and Save Watercourse Commission (BUPUSACOM).
Dr Kabeya said that the transboundary water management cooperation plays a critical role in sustainable development and protecting biodiversity as well as ensuring peace and security.
He said water should not be used as a source of tension, but rather a bridge between people.
“SADC recognized that within the water cooperation, it is important to emphasize on its centrality of cooperation in realizing Sustainable Development Goal 6 and the important role of hydro-diplomacy in preventing crises. At SADC we believe that water must bring people together and remain essential for peace and resilience, and cooperation as the way forward”. Hence “the establishment of Shared Watercourse Institutions (SWIs) plays a critical role in the management of shared water resources,” said Dr Kabeya.
He highlighted that the SWI have provided platforms for Member States to build a common understanding of the opportunities and challenges in the shared watercourses, contributing to promoting sustainable development, peace and security in the region.
Dr Kabeya added that the successful cooperation and “establishment of institutions to manage the water sector at basin level, promoted stability in the region through integrated management of water resources”.
He called for support of the river basin organisations in the region that are yet to be fully established and urged the two sister countries to strengthen BUPUSA operations.
“Despite, the establishment of several Shared Watercourse Institutions (SWIS)/ River Basin Organisations (RBOs)/SWIs in the region – there is need to support a number of river basin organisations in the region that are yet to be fully established.
“It is important, to ensure that no shared watercourse is left behind in driving regional integration through transboundary water cooperation. With the launch of the BUPUSA as the first Tri-Basin Institutional Model in the SADC Region, I wish to state that BUPUSA is now joining family of the SADC RBOs/SWIs such as OKACOM, ORASECOM, LIMCOM, ZAMCOM, and other RBOs/SWIs under development such as RUVUMA, KUNENE, etc.
“Now the challenge is for Member States (Mozambique and Zimbabwe) to ensure today accomplished milestone is well managed in terms of strengthening BUPUSA operations for the benefits of the people of the two countries,” he said.
Dr Kabeya added that the global pressures on the quality and quantity of water have increased since the 1980s, adding that 2.3 billion people currently live in water-stressed countries.
Additionally, the Senior Programme Officer-Water in the SADC Secretariat said “across the globe, climate change is placing additional pressure both on the quality and the quantity of the world’s water resources.
“As one of the most vulnerable regions, in the world to climate change, SADC region faces multiple challenges, as seen in the devastating floods in some of countries”.
In launching the commission, Mozambique’s Deputy Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources Cecilia Chamutota, said (BUPUSA) basin is strategically important to Mozambique due to its “contribution to water supply to the population, agricultural production industry and electricity generation as well as environmental preservation”.
Zimbabwe Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, Davis Marapira reiterated the country’s support to the commission’s roadmap and its work within the basins by “nominating Elisha Madamombe, as the interim executive secretary during the transition of the Commission into a fully-fledged River Basin Organisation”.
Marapira also implored the two sister nations to counter the challenges in the basins, which are dominated by cyclical floods and droughts.
