Re-thinking water storage for climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa

Keywords	climate change, water storage, social-political assessment
Countries	Ghana, Ethiopia
Objectives	The project aims at increasing resilience of the rural poor who are vulnerable to climate change related risks in sub-Saharan Africa, through better water storage mechanisms, improved investment strategies and institutional support. It will examine various storage options, their economic feasibility, and suitability in various physiographic and sociopolitical conditions, their distributional outcomes and impact on local livelihoods, environmental consequences, adoption potential and resilience under different climate change scenarios. The study will be carried out in Ghana and Ethiopia, as these countries are predicted to be affected differently by climate change, cover the variety of storage options practiced, attract attention of international investors and have well-established relationships with the project proponents. The project team at ZEF will contribute social-political assessments in the Volta River Basin (Ghana) as well as in the Blue Nile River Basin (Ethiopia).
Research sites	in Ghana: Vea (Yaragatna watershed) Golinga watershed Saata watershed in Ethiopia: Koga watershed Gumara watershed (incl. Gomit dam) Guder-Indris watershed
Methodology	Comprehensive analyses of storage options will be carried out from the farmers' and investors' perspectives under area-specific scenarios of future water availability. A diverse range of national and international partners and stakeholders are involved in the proposed project and outputs will be disseminated through established regional networks, peer-reviewed papers, on-line sources and policy round tables.

Team Members	Dr. Irit Eguavoen (ZEF coordinator) Dr. Wolfram Laube Constance Abwoyo: The politics of environmental conservation. A case study of Guder-Indris irrigation scheme, Abay River basin, Ethiopia (working title), MA Culture and Environment in Africa Ben Adol Otto: Socio-economic and political impacts of water storage facilities on rural household livelihood. A study of Gumara, Abay River Basin, Ethiopia (working title), MA Culture and Environment in Africa Saaed Seidu Billa: Gender aspects and the access to the natural resources in Shena small-scale irrigation scheme, Gumara watershed (working title), MA Culture and Environment in Africa Sina Marx: Watershed and irrigation management in a large-scale irrigation scheme, Koga watershed (working title), MA Social Anthropology Susanne Remmel: Power relations and control over water resources. The case of Indris irrigation scheme, Oromia region, Ethiopia (working title), MA Social Anthropology Weyni Tesfai: Resettlement, social bonds and attachment to land in a large-scale irrigation scheme, Koga watershed (working title), BA Social Anthropology
Partner Institutions / Funding Organizations	Partners of cooperation: Institute for Ethnology, University of Cologne International Water Management Institute (IWMI) EEA -Ethiopian Economic Association / Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Arba Minch University / Institute of Water Technology in Arba Minch (Ethiopia) Water Research Institute in Accra (Ghana) Institute for Statistical Economic and Social Research of the University of Ghana Volta Basin Authority in Burkina Faso Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) (Germany) Funding Institutions: German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Duration of the Project	April 2008 - March 2011
Events / Timeline	April 2008: Project Inception workshop, Addis Ababa May 2009: Field trip to Abay River basin, project workshop, Addis Ababa 18th-19th June 2009: Meeting of the BMZ/GTZ research program participants "Adaptation of African Agriculture to Climate Change", Bonn 9th July 2009: ZEF Public Water Lecture by Dr. Seleshi Bekele Awulachew (Head of East Africa and Nile Basin Office of IWMI in Addis Ababa) "Creating Hydaulic Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa: Debates about dam-building in Ethiopia", Bonn 8th February - 9th April 2010: MA field research in Ethiopia 30th/31st March 2010: project workshop in Addis Ababa, presentation of preliminary results 8th April 2010: VAD conference (German Association of African Studies), Mainz Irit Eguavoen "Diskurse um Klimawandel und Anpassungsstrategien am Blauen Nil in Äthiopien." (panel 4: Institutionen des Land-, Wasser- und Forstmanagements zwischen staatlichem Zugriff, globaler Lenkung und lokalen Dynamiken, Prof. Michael Bollig) September 2010: Presentation of results at Tropentag, Zurich
Contact	Dr. Irit Eguavoen

To top | Print page