04 December 2017 - 06 December 2017
Entebbe, Uganda

Workshop on Solutions for a Water Secure East Africa in 2050

Participants explore mid to long term water resources management and planning for Eastern Africa

© IIASA

© IIASA

Key actors in the Lake Victoria Basin came together with the IIASA WFaS team to; engage in mutual learning, create future water demand scenarios and explore regional water management options. This involved exploring development pathways and identifing priorities, potential investments and solutions.

The workshop had the following objectives:

  • To give stakeholders a detailed introduction to the Water Futures and Solutions Initiative,  it’s models and preliminary results in the East African Region, particularly the Lake Victoria Basin
  • To share experiences on other modelling initiatives and efforts relevant for mid- to long-term water resources planning within the region
  • To have an improved understanding on approaches, tools and techniques useful for mid- to long-term water resources management and planning issues
  • To have a common understanding on key determinants for mid- to long-term water availability and demand trajectory
  • To develop create future water demand scenarios and regional water management scenarios
  • To set the scene for research collaboration between IIASA and East African Water Resources Institutions, Academia, Civil Society and Private Sector on Solutions for a water secure East Africa. To have enhanced understanding on the specific purpose and areas of collaboration, mutual benefits among all partners are identified, and specific work packages guide the implementation of WFaS intervention in Eastern Africa until the end of 2018.

Next Steps

Building on the rich experience available in various institutions operating in mid- to long term water resources management and planning issues in Easter Africa the workshop triggered the following follow-up work:

  • By mid January a draft workshop report will be ready for input from participants: This report documents the presentations, related discussions and results from the different working groups (without major interpretation and further processing and data gathering). It includes an executive summary and is presented in a manner to inform the LVBC sectoral committee about the started work in the framework of the exploratory workshop.
  • Paper on scenarios for EAC countries: This paper will include story lines and quantification of major drivers for regional development pathways of the EAC countries based on regional and national development visions and plans (regional scenario). In addition, it will include two development scenarios derived from global SSPs (Shared Socio-economic Pathways).
  • Based on the quantified drivers and story lines documented in the scenario paper, IIASA will produce a set of preliminary modelling results focusing on balancing water availability and water demand for discussion in a next workshop.

Funded by: IIASA, Austrian Development Agency, Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment

Co-organised by: IIASA and the Directorate of Water Resources Management (DWRM) of the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment.

Workshop Attendees

The workshop was attended by over 50 participants covering a wide range of stakeholders:

  • Secretariat of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission and National Focal Points
  • Secretariat of the Nile Basin Initiative
  • Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme
  • Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa and Chairs of Country Partnerships
  • Directorate of Water Resources Management, Uganda
  • Representatives from other relevant Ugandan Ministries and institutions
  • Representatives from Academic Institutions of the region
  • Representatives from business sector
  • Representatives from Ugandan donor community
  • International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
17.12 IIASA and East Africa

Outcomes

Day 1: Sharing experience on modelling work

Participants exchanged on ongoing activities, existing experience and planned initiatives in the area of modelling applications and tools supporting mid- to long-term water resources management and planning in East Africa. Interactive discussions revealed a number of key challenges & opportunities in regard to using modelling work for supporting wise water resources planning. 

Day 2: Understanding regional development scenarios

The East African Community (EAC) vision 2050 and the countries’ development visions together with the commitment to the SDGs will shape the future developments in the Lake Victoria Basins. One full workshop day was dedicated to have a deeper understanding of development scenarios resulting from these visions and how water can support these development aspirations as an enabler on the one side and how the water resources are likely to be adversely affected on the other side.

Day 3: Building collaboration on future research

On the last day, participants used the opportunity to build partnerships on boosting modelling and scenario building capacities in the region. Participants worked together in flexible groups which focused on the aspects of capacity development, data and uncertainty, agricultural water and land use, and issues related to scenario development. This gives ground to work further on specific research collaboration and work packages which will be either implemented in the coming year or developed further into funding proposals. 

About the Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) Initiative


WFaS seeks to incorporate water science into water policy and planning, and applied water management issues.


Set-up as an inter-disciplinary scientific initiative to define the challenges, WFaS identifies and tests solution pathways across different economic sectors, including agriculture, energy and industry while safeguarding the environment. Using in-house hydrological and hydro-economic models, a key research focus is on mid- to long term projections of future water availability and demand, and investment options on how to balance them under different socio-economic, demographic and climatic scenarios, both at global and regional scales including transboundary watersheds. Stakeholder consultation supports co-designing future development scenarios and possible solution options.


After a global analysis undertaken in a first WFaS fast-track assessment, the initiative is currently focusing on Eastern Africa with the Lake Victoria Basin as a key research area. With funding from the Austrian Development Agency, IIASA’s Water Futures and Solutions Initiative formed an East Africa node. 



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Last edited: 11 July 2018

Workshop Report

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