Stephanie Midgley, head of science, One World Sustainable Investments tells Zeenat Abdool how climate change could drive women’s empowerment.

OKACOM executive secretary Eben Chonguiça tells Fransiska Thikerete that joint fact-finding has helped Angola, Botswana and Namibia to build a basis of trust so that balanced choices over development in the Okavango River basin can proceed.

Adapting to climate-change induced stress on water in Southern Africa should include more efficient use of water that is available, Themba Gumbo tells Zeenat Abdool.

Alma Balopi interviews SERGIO BENTO SITOE, interim secretary, Limpopo River Basin Commission
When it comes to sharing transboundary waters, no one has as much to lose as downstream countries. Mozambique is at the end of no fewer than nine of Southern Africa’s 15 shared river basins.

“We depend on the upstream countries for water. The water is [...]

Alma Balopi interviews BOGADI MATHANGWANE, project technical coordinator, International Water Office, Botswana Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources
Botswana is experiencing water stress due to a number of factors such as rapidly increasing population, low and variable rainfall, warmer temperatures leading to higher rates of evaporation, and the continuing high [...]

Busani Bafana interviews NOMATHEMBA NESENI, executive director, Institute of Water and Sanitation Development
Guaranteeing access to water to all can only be achieved when government and communities work together.

The Institute for Water and Sanitation Development works across the Southern Africa region offering research, technical and capacity-building services on water issues.
IPS: What are the key water challenges [...]

Davison Makanga interviews ALLOICE KAPONDA, Basin Water Officer, Ruvuma and Southern Coast Region, Tanzania Ministry of Water
The Ruvuma region in Tanzania was a buffer zone for Mozambican soldiers during the liberation war.

The end of Mozambique’s civil war in the early 1990s created conditions for a large population influx into the Ruvuma river basin, which stretches [...]

Nyarai Mudimbu interviews ENOCH DLAMINI, Programme Manager for Regional Strategic Water Infrastructure, Southern African Development Community secretariat
Adequate funding and capacity are two key challenges to managing water in the Southern Africa region.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has an elaborate framework of policy and best practice concerning water resources, appropriate in a region that faces [...]

By Belynda Petrie, CEO OneWorld group
Climate change threatens Africa’s water and food security: the changes in climate will impact on social and political stability of most African countries. The countries in the Southern Africa region are predominantly agriculture based countries and this means that they heavily depend on the climate.

Most communities in Southern Africa have [...]

By Lani van Vuuren
THE pollution of South Africa’s surface water has received much attention over the years, but degradation of underground supplies has gone largely unnoticed – until now.

The Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa has of late funded intense research on the extent of contamination of the country’s aquifers by dense, non-aqueous phase [...]

By Barbara Lopi*
Clean groundwater is vital to at least 70 percent of the population in southern Africa, yet too many wells and boreholes are not operated efficiently, or are simply abandoned.

Urgent action is needed to improve access to potable water, and minimize waterborne diseases in rural as well as peri-urban areas in most of southern [...]