Water and energy ministers from across southern Africa gathered in Botswana this week to discuss solutions for the water and energy crisis.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Energy and Water Joint Ministerial Workshop was formed in response to the 2015/2016 drought. The aim was to identify immediate, short, medium and long term solutions to deal with the rising challenges and mitigate the negative impacts.

Ideas were exchanged and best practices were shared with the objective of addressing water and energy challenges in the region.

Attendees also noted that the maintenance of infrastructure, poor harnessing of alternative sources of energy and water and slow implementation of priority energy and water projects are all challenges that hinder solutions in the region.

The issue of limited regional connectivity for power trading and poor access to the climate change funds for adaptation and investment were also identified as challenges.

 

Partnership and innovation is key

As part of outcomes member states and the Secretariat were encouraged to ensure that the energy, water and food security sectors plan and work jointly following the nexus approach, avoiding sectoral silos in order to maximise the benefits and accelerate delivery.

The workshop also recommended that innovative funding methodologies be found in order to speed up implementation.

It was agreed that member states should invest more in alternative sources of energy and water such as rainwater harvesting, recycling, and desalination depending on the circumstances, whilst promoting conjunctive use of ground water and surface water.

In the conclusion it was noted that in order to have a water and energy secure region, joint investment on strategic water and energy projects is a must.