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Blog post 10: Reflections

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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring the political side of water and development over these last 9 weeks and have learnt a lot in the process. In this blog, I’ve tried to cover different regions of Africa (figure 1) so as not to confine myself to certain cultures, societies, political institutions and economies. The blog has largely followed the structure outlined in my introductory post, discussing how politics is intertwined with water management and provision at individual to international scales. Previously, I primarily associated politics with formal institutions and legal frameworks, but this blog has really highlighted the omnipresent nature of politics to me.  Figure 1. Map highlighting countries I’ve covered in this blog. Source At the beginning of the blog I set out how physical characteristics affect safe water access. Whilst I still believe the physical environment plays a part in water distribution and access, it’s become clear that politics is at the centre of water issues.
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Blog post 9: Africa does not have a water crisis

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Today I stumbled across a TEDTalk with an interesting take on water in Africa that I wanted to share.  TED Talk by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò who suggests Africa does not have a water crisis but instead has a knowledge crisis that stands between it and a future of prosperity. Source In this podcast Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò builds on the idea, mentioned in my third post , that Africa does not have insufficient water but rather this water is uneven or currently inaccessible. However, he goes on to frame the water crisis as a knowledge crisis. Some interesting points he raises that link to other posts in this blog include: Africa's has knowledge crisis regarding the type, location, access to and redistribution of water which prevents effective utilisation of its abundant water resources (not a lack of water). Links to posts 3 & 6 . For 500 years (beginning with slave trade) Africa has been exporting brains and therefore breaking knowledge transmission chains on the continent which negatively
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Blog post 8: Dodgy dealings - water grabbing in Sierra Leone

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Last month the Sierra Leone Land Alliance (SSLA) released a report titled ‘Land grabbing in a time of Covid-19 in Sierra Leone’ in which they said land ownership was a primary cause of tension between the government and citizens ( Politico 2020 ). This notion is not new: land tension and unequal distribution of resources has frequently been stated as a major driver of the Sierra Leone civil war ( Sturgess and Flower 2013 ). This post will explore land grabbing in Sierra Leone in more detail, highlighting why it’s such a contentious issue. It will illuminate the reasons behind the government’s decision to lease/sell land and why citizens are so opposed to it. Unlike my other blog entries, it will focus on foreign players’ involvement in African hydropolitics and how they are partly to blame for the poor relationship between Sierra Leone citizens and government.   Land grabbing First a quick introduction to land grabbing: what is it and how does it relate to water and development in Afri
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Blog post 7: "Water is life, sanitation is dignity". Local politics

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My introductory post presented water as a human right, fundamental to maintaining life, whilst subsequent posts explored water management at national and international scales. In this post I look at water in Africa from a sanitation perspective, and shift focus to local and individual scales.  Historically, urban sanitation was masked by water supply issues ( George 2008 ) but it’s now seen as a key concern associated with urban poverty and an opportunity for development, with the toilet becoming a development device ( Thieme 2018 ).  Thus, sanitation is inherently political, with the claim to a toilet being both a human rights claim ( UN 2010 ) and/or a public health claim ( UNICEF 2008 ). So why do so many people not have access to adequate sanitation (fig. 1)? This post will go some way to answering that question by looking at political obstacles affecting an individual’s ability to claim this right. But first I’ll contextualise this post by looking at how historical legacies have
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Blog post 6: Don't forget about aquifers

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To enhance last week’s post on transboundary water resources, this entry will briefly discuss shared sub-surface resources. The video below introduces groundwater in Africa and highlights the associated opportunities and challenges: Groundwater accounts for >80% of sub-Saharan Africa’s domestic rural water supply ( Calow et al. 2010 ).  Yet, people are not always aware of its transboundary nature (fig.1) as, unlike rivers, aquifers cannot be seen.  Thus, groundwater consumers may also be unaware of who else uses the aquifer or the impacts their use/contamination has elsewhere. So, whilst there is less explicit conflict over groundwater ( Kulkarni and Aslekar 2018 ), there is perhaps more potential for political disputes. Moreover, with climate change leading to higher evaporative losses of surface waters ( Serdeczny et al. 2017 ) but increasing groundwater recharge due to fewer but heavier rainfall events ( Owor et al. 2009 ), groundwater is likely to become an increasingly relie
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Blog post 5: Dam discussions in deadlock

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The construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa’s largest dam, has been fraught with problems including corruption scandals ( Ljubas 2019 ), death of the chief engineer ( Champion and Manek 2019 ) and military threats ( Walsh and Sengupta 2020 ). Additionally, it was recently reported that GERD negotiations have reached another stalemate, after Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan failed to agree on a procedure to complete talks ( Abdallatif 2020 ).  Whilst in the last post we explored how water provision is influenced by politics at a national scale, GERD demonstrates international scale African hydropolitics. This post will explore how the Nile, a transboundary water resource, has led to political tensions between countries. It provides an insight into key factors affecting the latest GERD disputes and some background to help you follow future updates. The Nile  The Nile basin covers 3.3million km 2 , spanning 11 countries (fig. 1). The two main tributaries of the Nile Ri
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Blog post 4: Cape Town water crisis - just another political game?

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Around mid-2017 friends and family in Cape Town started talking about their fears of running out of water. By the end of the year my social media feeds were full of shared posts about water conservation. On the 1st of February 2018, the South African government increased Cape Town’s mandatory water restrictions, limiting water use to 50 litres/person/day ( City of Cape Town 2018 ). Recommendations accompanying the restriction included only one toilet flush a day and one laundry load a week ( CBC 2018 ). Additional water had to be bought (if you were lucky enough to find some) or collected from natural springs in the city (fig. 1). All of this was in an effort to avoid “Day Zero” – the day the city runs out of water. This post will explore whether this crisis was caused by poor environmental conditions or politics.  Figure 1. Messages from my friend at the University of Cape Town who was experiencing the drought first hand. So, who or what caused this crisis? Drought? Well let’s prefac
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