Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Case Study 2: Capacity-building for the ecosystem approach to water re- source management in the Pangani River basin

Prepared by Cross, K., Welling, R. and M. Smith based on Welling and others (2012).
Tanzania adopted its National Water Policy in 2002, followed by the National Water Sector Development Strategy 2005–2015. These ambitious reforms called for the implementation in Tanzania of a comprehensive, integrated and holistic ap- proach to the management of water resources. Basin Water Offices were charged with overseeing the establishment of participatory institutions, including water- user associations (WUAs), which bring together water users across communities that share a water source and catchment forums that include representatives from WUAs across a catchment area. Basin Water Offices are responsible for coordi- nating water allocation to meet, first, basic human needs and, second, the needs of ecosystems. As a result, determining water requirements for the environment became a priority for the government in order to implement the Water Policy and accompanying Water Resource Management Act (2009).
The Pangani Basin Water Board (PBWB) was one of the first to begin piloting implementation of the Water Policy. Population growth, deforestation, increasing numbers of livestock and the expansion of cultivated land, as well as fishing, min- ing and hydroelectric power activities, have led to excessive pressures on the ba- sin’s water resources. A changing climate has also reduced water availability, with flows in the basin reduced from several hundred to less than 40 m³ per second. The result of rising demand and falling supply has been the allocation of more water for use than is available, leading to conflict among users and ecosystem decline. With aquatic resources supplying up to 25% of household income in parts of the basin, the poorest have been the most adversely impacted.
Consequently, the Pangani River Basin Management Project was developed to generate technical information and build participatory forums to strengthen integrated water resources management in the Pangani River Basin. A component of the project focused on undertaking an integrated flow assessment (IFA) to un- derstand the environmental, economic and social implications of different river- flow scenarios under expected climatic conditions, while increasing the capacity of technicians to collect and analyse flow-assessment information. The outputs are being used to manage the water-related and water-dependent benefits that the ecosystem provides to people in a more integrated and holistic fashion.
The IFA began in 2005 with the PBWB working with IUCN and other partners in the basin. The assessment was designed to gather data on the hydrology and economic, social and ecological impacts of changes in water allocations in the basin and on river-flow regimes. The data were targeted at supporting evidence-based

decision-making on water resource management and climate change adaptation and played a critical role in supporting dialogue and consensus building among stakeholders and sectors on water allocation and management of natural water infrastructure. The benefits of using, or restoring, natural infrastructure were an integral part of this approach. Examples included: land-use planning options, such as zoning, to protect drinking water supplies; soil protection and erosion control measures, including conservation agriculture, or the prescribed planting of trees, thereby improving the soil ecosystem infrastructure. The project also recognized the crucial role the Pangani River Basin’s forests play in hydrology by regulating run-off, preventing soil erosion, storing water and improving water quality.

The assessment produced a series of 17 reports that have underpinned pro- gress in achieving improved and more sustainable water management in the Pangani Basin, with the policy and scientific recommendations from the assess- ment applied to decision-making. Equally importantly for implementation of the 2002 Water Policy, the piloting of implementation in the Pangani basin has been the source of critical lessons and new capacity for water management in Tanzania. An international team of flow-assessment specialists was contracted to undertake the Pangani studies. Rather than simply managing the consultancy in the standard way, however, the assessment project was designed with an explicit strategy for capacity-building. The international experts on the assessment team were joined by a team of Tanzanian specialists. Funds and time were then allocated to training, coaching and mentoring the national specialists, with the aim of ensuring that one result of the assessment would be a capacity within Tanzania to implement future flow assessments as the Water Policy is rolled out to other basins.
In all, 14 Tanzanian experts were trained and mentored in flow assessment and management, including five staff of the Pangani Basin Water Office, two from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and five scientists from the University of Dar es Salaam. These experts were joined by 14 others from the private sector and higher learning institutions in specialized studies and training workshops. In follow-up, the Tanzanian team of flow specialists are working on assessments of flow and river health in the Wami and Zigi basins as part of a further implementation of the Water Policy and Water Sector Development Strategy. Lessons learned in the Pangani Basin are being replicated in the preparation of IWRM for all Tanzanian river and lake basins and in development plans (eight other basins).
The PBWB implemented the project with technical assistance from IUCN, the Netherlands Development Organization and the local non-governmental or- ganization Pamoja. The project was financially supported by the IUCN Water & Nature Initiative, the Government of Tanzania, European Commission through a grant from EU-ACP Water Facility and the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Plan.
Further information on the project is available at: http://www.iucn.org/about/ union/secretariat/offices/esaro/what_we_do/water_and_wetlands/prbmp_esaro/
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