The four Member States that share the Limpopo River Basin -- Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe -- have pledged to continue deepening relations to strengthen integrated transboundary water management in the Limpopo River Basin.

The commitment was made at the official launch of the “Integrated Transboundary River Basin Management for the Sustainable Development of the Limpopo River Basin (LIMCOM-UNDP/GEF project),” which was held in Musina, South Africa on 14 March 2024.

This high-level political support resonates well with the enthusiasm shown by the communities living in the basin, who have expressed optimism that the project would address some of the key threats, such as water scarcity, water quality, and land degradation, imparting socio-economic activities in the basin.

The project is being implemented by the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) in partnership with the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA), with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through the Global Environment Facility (GEF). As the GEF implementing entity, the UNDP provides overall oversight of the project, with GWPSA as the executing agency, while LIMCOM is the focal custodian of the project implementation.

At the project launch ceremony, the four countries represented by their Ministers responsible for Water Resources Management pledged to ensure that the project, which aims to uplift the living standards of the basin’s population and conserve the basin’s resources and ecosystem services, is a success and signed a document committing themselves to the following interventions and actions to be undertaken through the project:

• Strengthen transboundary cooperation and management of water resources and associated ecosystems to improve water security, climate change resilience, and sustainable livelihoods.
• Foster Cooperation for Sustainable Use of Transboundary Water Systems and Economic Growth. 
• Prepare and adopt the Limpopo Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) that will guide the development and management of the Limpopo basin. 
• Advance conjunctive surface and groundwater management through effective institutional arrangements and policy measures. 
• Ensure flood and drought management in the Limpopo basin is improved, and related risks mitigated.

Steady progress continues to be made by the project to achieve its goals through several interventions being executed at the community level. For example, the formulation process of the TDA/SAP for the Limpopo River Basin is progressing well and stakeholders across the basin have been engaged through National Consultative Workshops to identify transboundary problems in the basin, as well as prioritize the problems that should be resolved to improve their livelihood and conserve the basin’s resources and ecosystems.

The national workshops held on 3-4 March 2024 in Botswana and Mozambique (18-19 March 2024), South Africa (3-4 April 2024), and Zimbabwe (8-9 April 2024) have thus provided an opportunity for all relevant stakeholders in the four LIMCOM countries to contribute to the development of the Limpopo basin.

The next stage is now to convene a basin-wide workshop, bringing together all four countries to collectively identify and set priorities on how best to manage the basin for present and future generations. Through the Limpopo TDA, Member States will agree on a set of transboundary priorities for the basin, which will guide transboundary and national investments in the future.

The TDA process also provides a factual basis for the formulation of the SAP for the Limpopo River Basin, which will be negotiated and agreed upon by the four Member States. It should be noted that various other interventions being implemented under the LIMCOM-UNDP/GEF are underway and progressing well to contribute to the formulation process of the Limpopo TDA/SAP. 

These interventions include an Environmental Flows (Eflows) harmonized assessment and Joint Basin Survey to assess aquatic ecosystem health, Assessment of Alluvial Aquifer Abstraction on groundwater-dependent ecosystems, as well as Implementation of the Sustainable Land Management (SLM) activities, and the Development of the Limpopo River Basin Management Information System (LIMIS).

About the project

The UNDP-GEF Limpopo project seeks to achieve integrated, cross-sectoral, ecosystem-based management of the Limpopo River to uplift the living standards of the basin’s population and conserve the basin’s resources and ecosystem services. It is being implemented in the four countries that share the Limpopo namely Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

For more information, please contact, Dr. Eddie Riddell: [eriddell@limpopocommission.org] or visit the project page on iwlearn.net

Words and photos by Kizito Sikuka.