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WATER RESILIENCE in a CHANGING URBAN CONTEXT Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action

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WATER RESILIENCE in a CHANGING URBAN CONTEXT Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action WATER RESILIENCE IN A CHANGING URBAN CONTEXT Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action LIKU WORKALEMAHU HABTEMARIAM, FITSUM A. GELAYE, JILLIAN DU, AND ANJALI MAHENDRA* WRI.ORG Water Resilience in a Changing Urban Context: Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action i ABOUT THE AUTHORS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Liku Workalemahu Habtemariam is a We are grateful to Elleni Ashebir, Manish Bapna, Ani Dasgupta, Robin King, and Carlos consultant to WRI Africa’s Urban Water Muñoz-Piña for providing comments on multiple drafts of the report. We thank the Resilience program in Addis Ababa, leading internal and external reviewers who strengthened the report. Internal reviewers were the city-level assessment work. He is also Zablon Adane, Achille Djeagou, John-Rob Pool, Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, and Rebekah an Assistant Professor for the Chair of Urban Shirley. External reviewers were Katrin Bruebach, Gabriella Carolini, Shuaib Lwasa, and Regional Planning, Ethiopian Institute Alice McClure, Patience Mguni, Diana Mitlin, Baraka Mwau, and Francis Tetero. We are of Architecture, Building Construction and deeply grateful to the three local researchers who collected the data and conducted City Development. His research is focused on key informant interviews. These researchers include Shuaib Lwasa, Júlia Mesquita, and shifting governance to enable water-resilient Baraka Mwau. We are also grateful to the interviewees from the water utilities, public cities in Africa, particularly through linking and agencies, and civil society organizations in Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Kampala, and building livelihoods and active engagement of Nairobi who provided information to the researchers and authors. We also thank the communities as well as fostering champions spatial data analysis team at WRI India, including Samrat Basak, Aakash Malik, and Raj of change. Bhagat, who created the excellent maps for this report. Fitsum A. Gelaye is an urban planner and We are thankful to WRI’s Urban Water Resilience Project Team for its guidance and designer who has worked on urban resilience support: Elleni Ashebir, Aklilu Fikresilassie, Marcella Kim, Wanjira Mathai, Betsy Otto, and sustainability projects with a wide range Smita Rawoot, Eliza Swedenborg, and Rogier van den Berg. We are grateful for Lauri of stakeholders, including the Rockefeller Scherer and her editorial support. Meredith Hess and Franck Kipoliongo kept the work Foundation, Addis Ababa’s Resilience Project moving forward. We thank our communications team, including Marlena Chertock, Office, and Columbia University. Her work Schuyler Null, Hillary Smith, Tini Tran, and Becca Warner, who helped with messaging focuses on how leaders and communities can and outreach, as well as Romain Warnault and Rosie Ettenheim for their work on the work together in achieving equitable water graphics and layout. resilience in rapidly urbanizing cities. She is currently based in Addis Ababa where she We are pleased to acknowledge our institutional strategic partners, who provide core works as a development strategy consultant. funding to WRI: the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Jillian Du is a Research Manager, Inclusive Cities, at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable This report was funded with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cities. Her analytical work focuses on Cooperation and Development (BMZ). how cities can create resilient, equitable communities while tackling climate change and ensuring economic opportunities. Anjali Mahendra is the Director of Global Research at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. She is a recognized expert on urban land use and transportation policies. Her research focuses on how cities in the global South can manage urban growth to ensure equitable access to core services and infrastructure, and more resource-efficient economic and environmental outcomes. She led WRI's flagship World Resources Report, Towards a More Equal City. *Corresponding author. Please address all correspondence regarding this paper to [email protected]. Design and layout by: Jenna Park [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Foreword 3 Executive Summary 17 1. The Challenge for African Cities 19 1.1 About This Report 21 1.2 The Fast-Changing Urban Context and Compounding Climate Risks 27 1.3 The Water Crisis in African Cities: Four Drivers 30 1.4 The Political Economy of Water in African Cities: A Look at History 34 1.5 A New Approach for Africa’s Changing Context 41 2. Priority Pathways for Action with Specific Strategies 42 2.1 Plan For Water 57 2.2 Prioritize the Most Vulnerable 67 2.3 Create Change at Scale 79 2.4 Get Finance Right 91 3. Transitioning to a Water-Resilient City 96 3.1. An Action Agenda 100 Appendix A. Description of Interviewees 101 Abbreviations 102 Glossary 104 Endnotes 106 References Water Resilience in a Changing Urban Context: Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action iii iv WRI.org Foreword Cities in Africa face converging challenges: rapid ambition, they write, cities are well-positioned urbanization, rising climate threats, and skyrocketing to build momentum across various levels of demand for increasingly constrained water resources. government and diverse sectors. Water Resilience in a Changing Urban Context: Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action, This report is the first from WRI’s new, multi- demonstrates that African cities can address these year Urban Water Resilience initiative, which challenges with a fresh approach centered on is supporting cities with research to illuminate water resilience. urban water resilience challenges and pathways, partnerships to enhance capacity and demonstrate Although Africans have contributed the least to solutions, and collective action to create enabling climate change, they face some of the worst risks. environments. It is a joint initiative of WRI Africa, Over two-thirds of urban residents in Africa lack WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and the WRI safe, affordable, and reliable water and sanitation Water Program, as well as other partners. services. By 2050, a projected 1.5 billion people will call African cities home — double the population Thank you to the German Federal Ministry for today. Two-thirds of Africa’s cities are expected Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for to face “extreme” climate risks, according to the supporting this report. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and While this report focuses on water, the scalable Development. change the authors outline applies to many Many African cities already face water crises that challenges facing cities today. Investing in create vulnerabilities across multiple systems vital resilience is shown to improve livelihoods, protect for human well-being. Cities throughout the continent ecosystems, and confront climate change. As the are frequently hit by flooding or drought, even as COVID-19 pandemic and climate crisis have made inhabitants struggle to access clean water. clear, it is imperative to accelerate systems change that can underpin a more resilient, sustainable, The answer: smart, systematic investments in and just world. urban water resilience that ensure communities have safe, reliable, and affordable water and that water resources are protected through disaster preparedness and water-sensitive infrastructure. Water resilience is essential to many development goals, from the Sustainable Development Goals and Ani Dasgupta UN Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Paris Agreement. President & CEO Water security is also key to building back better World Resources Institute from COVID-19. This report identifies four pathways for action for policymakers, practitioners, and funders: plan for water, prioritize the most vulnerable, create change at scale, get finance right. These are not easy tasks, but they can be done. The report, rich in revealing maps and insightful charts, features promising Wanjira Mathai examples of success from across the continent. The Vice President and authors, experts in water resilience in the African Regional Director For Africa context, highlight the potential power of cities to drive transformation. As centers of innovation and political Water Resilience in a Changing Urban Context: Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action 1 2 WRI.org Executive Summary The Challenge in Africa By 2050, Africa will be a different continent than it is today. The total population is expected to double (Ndaw 2020), putting pressure on existing water infrastructure (UN DESA 2018). Climate change will have increasingly worse and unpredictable impacts on water, with cascading risks related to livelihoods, economies, health, and extreme weather events. Water Resilience in a Changing Urban Context: Framing Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action 3 Highlights Without resilience to water scarcity, flooding, and climate disasters, current urban growth patterns and water management will not be sustainable. Most urban areas in Africa are confronting Alternatively, cities can provide new economic ▪ escalating water-related challenges opportunities and better livelihoods—but only if compounded by climate change and they build resilient systems that are better equipped projected growth. Current urbanization to handle the strain on their water resources. patterns, existing water supply systems, Decisions made today can dramatically impact how and governance and financial models will the continent
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