Ephemeral River Basins in SADC
(ERB)
Although integrated water resources management (IWRM) is accepted as the approach promoting sustainable management of water resources and the river basin considered the ideal unit over which to apply it, the basin management approach has not been widely tested and implemented in ephemeral river basins in southern Africa. The ERB-SADC Project explores the potential and options for basin management in three ephemeral river basins in southern Africa – the Boteti in Botswana, the Buffels in South Africa and the Fish in Namibia.
These ephemeral rivers while being essential water resources in their areas, have different characteristics and fall under different policy, legislatory and institutional frameworks.
Funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DRFN is coordinating this four-year project which is being led by the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre (HOORC) in Maun, the Surplus People Project in South Africa and DRFN in Namibia. ERB-SADC has five main objectives for each of the three study basins:
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Raise awareness of managers about integrated approaches to the sustainable and integrated use of natural resources |
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Assess the potential for the application of integrated basin management |
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Establish an implementation framework for appropriate forums to promote IWRM |
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Document the current biophysical and socio-economic status of the three river basins, and how the current policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks influence the potential for basin management in these SADC countries |
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Document lessons learnt, best practices and case studies based on these four objectives above as a comparative analysis for wider application |
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