International Waters learning Exchange & Resource Network

Development and Adoption of a Strategic Action Program for Balancing Water Uses and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in the Orange-Senqu River Transboundary Basin - Results

GEF IDS: 2701

Ecosystem
River

Scale
Regional

Information sources
IWC6 Results Note (2011)

Key Basin Project Results
1. The State of the Orange-Senqu River System Report: Contributing towards finalising the TDA, the 2010 Joint Orange-Senqu Survey investigated water quality issues. This Survey was the joint effort of all ICPsupported projects under ORASECOM, the Orange-Senqu River Commission. It covered physical and chemical water parameters, bio-monitoring as well as specialist surveys on heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The comprehensive survey of POPs in a larger river basin was a ‘first’ in the region.
2. Institutional strengthening of ORASECOM towards developing an IWRM Plan of the Basin: Planning requires informed debate and a structured approach towards consultation across national borders. The project currently develops the ORASECOM Water Information System, a web-based data and information sharing portal. Transboundary Environmental Assessment Guidelines are also currently under preparation. These Guidelines will define the process for consultations on environmental impacts in a transboundary context. They are also a ‘first’ in the region. Already other southern African river basin organizations have expressed their interest in this work.
3. The Preliminary TDA highlighted three thematic areas for practical research and action on the ground. Scoping studies on water resources management issues in the irrigation sector (the largest water user in the basin), the setting of environmental flow requirements, as well as on overcoming land degradation through community-based management approaches have been completed. Consultations with the affected communities at grassroot level have been conducted. The implementation of practical measures on the ground is now starting.

Results data
Water use efficiency measures
Year: N/A - Value: [see desc]
INDICATOR#2 Water use efficiency improved at the transboundary pilot sites and best practices in irrigation water usage developed: A water management plan will address the pertinent issues at the catchment level, at the level of the water user association best management practices in metering, scheduling, and tariffing and water trading will be explored. At the level of individual farms metering, water use efficiency and crop enhancement are implemented. Lessons learnt shall inform a replicability strategy for the basin
Catchment protection measures
Year: N/A - Value: [see desc]
INDICATOR#1 Soil erosion reduced at the pilot sites, self-governance lessons and best practices for improved land/range management established. The formation of community based governance structures to improve land/range management with clear linkages to water resource management which can be used as models for replication in the OS basin and further afield.
Regional legal agreements and cooperation frameworks
Year: N/A - Value: YES
The Orange-Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM) was formalized by the Governments of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa through the signing of the ‘Agreement for the Establishment of the Orange-Senqu Commission’ on November 3rd, 2000 in Windhoek, Namibia (Earle et al, 2005).
Regional Management Institutions
Year: N/A - Value: YES
INDICATOR#2 Transboundary EA Guidelines prepared and agreed: Transboundary EA Guidelines drafted and agreed by ORASECOM. This includes including a listing of type and size of projects to which these guidelines shall be applicable.

ORASECOM is the first commission to be established following the regional ratification of the SADC Protocol on Shared Water Course Systems. The Agreement refers to, and recognizes the following agreements:

Helsinki Rules (1966)
UN Convention on Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (1997)
The SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems (2000)
Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis: Agreement on transboundary priorities and root causes
Year: N/A - Value: YES
The Preliminary TDA highlighted three thematic areas for practical research and action on the ground. Scoping studies on water resources management issues in the irrigation sector (the largest water user in the basin), the setting of environmental flow requirements, as well as on overcoming land degradation through community-based management approaches have been completed. Consultations with the affected communities at grassroot level have been conducted. The implementation of practical measures on the ground is now starting.
Development of Strategic Action Program (SAP)
Year: 2014 - Value: YES
SAP Endorsed in 2014

The Orange–Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM) was established by the
governments of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa to advise them
on water-related issues towards promoting equitable and sustainable development
and management of the resources of the Orange–Senqu River basin.
ORASECOM and its four basin states have been supported by a United Nations
Development Programme–Global Environmental Facility (UNDP–GEF) programme
in the development of a basin-wide Strategic Action Programme (SAP)
and an Action Plan for each basin country to address a variety of identified waterrelated
environmental concerns. The SAP is a negotiated document that provides
a basin-wide framework for the implementation of a prioritised set of national and
joint transboundary actions and investments. In the context of the Orange–Senqu
River Basin Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Plan, the SAP is
specifically focused on addressing priority environmental concerns. At national level,
the SAP initiatives are integrated into the respective Action Plan of each basin state.
The SAP is based on an assessment of the priority environmental concerns as identified
by the Orange–Senqu Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), a scientific
and technical assessment of the priority environmental concerns and shared management
issues in the basin. For the priority issues, the analysis identifies the scale and
distribution of the environmental and socio-economic impacts at national and basin
levels and, through an analysis of the root causes, identifies potential remedial and/
or preventative actions. The SAP defines technical and management interventions
to address these priority concerns at the basin-wide level. It was developed through
an extensive consultation process and has been validated at basin-wide level in order
to ensure that it reflects the priorities of the four basin states. It is well aligned with
applicable regional agreements and policies, as well as the national development and
sector plans of the basin states.
Developed under the auspices of ORASECOM, this SAP – together with the Action
Plans of the four basin states – forms the environmental component of the Orange–
Senqu River basin IWRM Plan.
Development of Strategic Action Program (SAP)
Year: N/A - Value: TBD
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