AWWAWW--1, Tunis, March 200820081,

Reconciling socio-economic development and water resources conservation:- Experiences from the Volta water governance project

ByBy Kwame OdameOdameKwame --AbabioAbabio Key Characteristics of the Volta The Basin covers

Mali Koro !( an estimated area of 400,000 Niger Baï Ouahigouya !( !( Ouankoro 2 !( km of the sub-humid to semi- arid West-African savannah Burkina!( Faso zone,

Bobo Dioulasso Pô The basin is shared by six !( !( Tanguieta Bolgatenga !( !( countries-(, Burkina Natitingou !( Wa !( Doropo Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, , !( Lama Kara Tamalé !( Bouna !( Benin !( Mali & ).

Togo 85% of the total basin area is

Bondoukou !( Ghana shared between Nigeria Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana Legend !( Cities and Towns Its water resources is a key Volta lake Lomé benin !( burkina developmental resource for Accra cote d'ivoire !( ghana Burkina and Ghana. mali togo

80 40 0 80 Kilometers Water Resources of the Volta V o l t a B a s i n The originates ininThe Mali as Sourou River and isisMali I L joined by River Mouhoun ininjoined A ± M $T Ouahigouya Burkina Faso before enteringenteringBurkina Ghana.Ghana. BURKINA FASO $T Ouagadougou The with ananThe

$T Tenkodogo

u

o h

a u estimated annual flow of 300300estimated o

N

N a N z in a o k n a m (R e b d e V o Pô l at $T $T ) Bobo Dioulasso $T Pô Léo $T m3/s begins as the NakanbéNakanbém3/s Bolgatanga BENIN River in Burkina Faso.Faso.River $T Wa GHANA

E $T $T Lama Kara R Tamale I O O

V  G The Oti River begins in BeninBeninThe I ' O d T and flows to Ghana throughthroughand E T Togo.Togo. O C $T Sunyani Legend

$T Important cities $T Kumasi $T Ho River course $T Basin boundary Lome Sub-basins Black Volta $T Accra Lower Volta 0 30 60 120 180 240 Oti Kilometers White Volta ATLANTICOCEAN What is the Volta Water Governance Project ? (Projet d’Amélioration de la Gouvernance de l’Eau dans le bassin de la Volta) - PAGEV

Donor support: PAGEV is part of the DGIS/WANI - US$500,000 (~420,000 Euros) Water and Nature Sida; 8.8 Million SEK Initiative (WANI), a (~930,000 Euros) It also benefits from substantial worldwide initiative of in-kind contributions from the the IUCN governments of Ghana and Burkina as well as from GWP- PAGEV focussed on WA) and IUCN-BRAO seeking to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between Burkina Faso and Ghana on shared water resources Thematic focus of PAGEVPAGEVThematic

 1.1. DecisionDecision--support knowledge basebasesupport :: Key decisionKeydecision--support information base compiled and shared to informinformsupport constructive dialogues and collaboration on water management betweenbetweenconstructive Burkina and GhanaGhanaBurkina

 2.2. Pilot IWRM interventions ::Pilot Burkina Faso andandBurkina Ghana jointly develop, implement and learn from pilot IWRM interventions in aGhana jointly develop, implement and learn from pilot IWRM interventions in a selected transtransselected --boundary subboundarysub--basinbasin

 3.3. Policy and institutional change ::Policy Existing biExistingbi-- lateral consultations mechanisms between Burkina and Ghana on waterwaterlateral management broadened and strengthened through the adoption andandmanagement implementation of a code of conduct in the management of shared waterswatersimplementation

 Learning and coordinationcoordinationLearning :: Project successfullyProjectsuccessfully managed and coordinated, structured learning supported and lessons learnedmanaged and coordinated, structured learning supported and lessons learned made availableavailablemade Geographical focus of PAGEVPAGEVGeographical V o l t a B a s i n

I L A ± M $T Ouahigouya

BURKINA FASO Tenkodogo $T PAGEV_Pilot Zone Ouagadougou "

$T Tenkodogo

u o h a u

o N

N az N ni a o k n a (R m e b e d V o Pô tl a $T $T ) Bobo Dioulasso $T Pô Léo $T Bolgatanga BENIN ±

$T Wa GHANA

E $T $T Lama Kara Zékézé R Tamale I O O V G I ' O d T

E Béléyerla T Bagre O " C $T Legend Sunyani $T Important cities River course $T Kumasi $T Ho Basin boundary Mogr-noré $T Sub-basins Lome Black Volta Sampema Lower Volta $T Accra Oti 0 30 60 120 180 240 White Volta Kilometers Bittou " Pagev_pilot ATLANTICOCEAN Noahou gauge Sampéma " Zekeze

Mogr_noore_ Mognori_GH

Beleyerla Bawku Sapeliga " Burkina Faso

•Eight communities (4 in Kobore "

Zebilla Burkina and 4 in Ghana) were " Sakom dam Ghana Mognori selected to pilot water Sapelliga governance options in a Sakom Legend (dam) transboundary setting. " Major towns Kugrasia Pilot Communities Bawku_West District Garu_Tempane District Bawku Municipality Kugrasia Bittou Department Boundary Line 0 10 20 40 Kilometers Zabre Department bagre_dam Strategic approach of PAGEVPAGEVStrategic –– 1. Mobilizing multimulti1. --level partners for IWRM interventionsinterventionslevel

OrganisationalOrganisational

Operational levelOperationallevel

Two liaison NGOs (one each from Burkina Faso and Ghana) partneredTwo liaison NGOs (one each from Burkina Faso and Ghana) partnered to accompany the communities and the technical services to implementto accompany the communities and the technical services to implement the activities on the groundgroundthe .. Strategic approach of PAGEVPAGEVStrategic –– 2. L2.Linkinginking Land and water conservation andandLand livelihood benefitsbenefitslivelihood 8 community trees nursery sitessites8community were established and 5555were nursery attendants trainedtrainednursery and supported to manage thetheand nurseriesnurseries

16 km of River banks reforested withwith16 nearlynearly 7 000 imported fruitfruit7000 fruit treesfruittrees andand 27,27, 000000 woodlots as alternatives forforwoodlots income generation and fuel wood.wood.income LLinkinginking Land and water conservation andandLand livelihood benefitsbenefitslivelihood (cont)(cont)

 Farmers were supported withwithFarmers seedlings, water pumps and wateringwateringseedlings, cans to increase cropping areas forforcans vegetable farming during the drydryvegetable season, whiles at the same taking carecareseason, of the trees planted in the bufferbufferof strips.strips.  Extra income in the region of 90 000000Extra FCFA earned during the last drydryFCFA season (January(Januaryseason --May 2007)2007)May Some of the people in the communitiescommunitiesSome have been trained to produce graftedgraftedhave mango seedlings which they would sellsellmango during subsequent cropping seasons totoduring earn income for themselves and locallocalearn committee.committee.. LLinkinginking Land and water conservation andandLand livelihoodlivelihood benefits (cont)(cont)benefits

FourFour communitiescommunities inin BurkinaBurkina FasoFaso werewere supportedsupported toto digdig threethree wellswells eacheach toto supplementsupplement theirtheir domesticdomestic waterwater supplysupply andand supportsupport drydry seasonseason gardeninggardening.. TwoTwo wellswells constructedconstructed byby thethe KugrasiaKugrasia communitycommunity inin GhanaGhana whilewhile anan oldold wellwell atat thethe SapéligaSapéliga alsoalso inin GhanaGhana waswas rehabilitatedrehabilitated.. AtAt MognoreMognore threethree wellswells constructedconstructed onon thethe farmsfarms forfor vegetablevegetable farmingfarming..

TheseThese wellswells havehave broughtbrought muchmuch reliefrelief toto thethe communities,communities, particularlyparticularly womenwomen whowho spendspend timetime lookinglooking forfor waterwater forfor domesticdomestic choreschores duringduring thethe drydry seasonsseasons LLinkinginking Land and water conservation andandLand livelihoodlivelihood benefits (cont)(cont)benefits Majority of farmers of Sakom village had relocated 15 km to the banks of the of VoltaMajority farmers of Sakom village had relocated 15 km to the banks of the Volta following the breaking down of the local dam since 1998. PAGEVfollowing PAGEV rehabilitated therehabilitatedthe dam in 2006 to makes water available in the floodplain for dry season vegetabledam in 2006 to makes water available in the floodplain for dry season vegetable farming and rice cultivationfarming cultivation Dam before rehabilitation After rehabilitation

An estimated 1,137 people (comprising 592 females and 545 males) of Sakom community now have access to water for dry-season farming and for watering of cattle VOLTA BASIN AUTHORITY

BENIN TOGO BURKINA GHANA MALI COTE FASO d`IVOIRE

MMEE MMEE MAHRH MWRWH MMEE MEEF MultiMulti--stakeholderstakeholder forums for IWRM atforums at

t f

JTC- c o

u the community,community,the

DGRE WRC e IWRM/ d d n o PAGEV o national andnationaland C C transboundary levelslevelstransboundary

r established totoestablished e Local Trans-boundary Committee s d e r n o (14) i promote cooperationcooperationpromote l b e - d s i n u a r G Country Committee Country Committee T BURKINA FASO GHANA

Representatives of Representatives of Nakambé the Communities the Communities White Volta Water Agency + Technical + Technical Basin Board Services Services Efforts on the way + Administration + Administration to link to the +NGOs/Civil +NGOs/Civil Society Society transboundary (31) (30) structure.

Grassroots Grassroots Communities Communities 4 villages BF 4 villages GH (12) (12) Replicability of PAGEV interventionsinterventionsReplicability

 Presently, transboundary coordination of management of thethePresently, Volta River Basin has evolvedevolvedVolta -- all six riparian states in thetheall Volta basin have signed protocols to form the Volta BasinBasinVolta Authority (VBA). Strengthening the collaboration withwithAuthority VBA will ensure the replication of PAGEV experiences ininVBA other riparian stated of the basinbasinother

 The creation of buffer zones initiated by PAGEV is beingbeingThe replicated by the Regional Directorates of Agriculture andandreplicated other community based projects from the regions straddlingstraddlingother the border between Burkina Faso and Ghana as part ofofthe support to communities to improve smallsmallsupport --scale irrigation forforscale food security.security.food Reflections on what has been learned from projectprojectReflections implementationimplementation

 Planning and implementation of communitycommunityPlanning --basedbased activities can be successfully shared between sectors asasactivities well as between communities across boundaries.boundaries.well

 Communities are willing to participate in water and otherotherCommunities natural resources conservation interventions when thethenatural outcomes of participation are clearly and directly linked totooutcomes the improvement of livelihood of participatingparticipatingthe communities.communities.

 Language barrier can be overcome withwithLanguage governments andandgovernments stakeholders’ cooperation and strong institutional supportssupportsstakeholders’ THANKSTHANKS

Articles on the project activities can be accessed on the site; www.iucn.org/places/brao/docs_pdf/projet_pagev.pdf