STRENGTHENING COOPERATION FOR FLOOD MANAGEMENT IN ZAMBEZI BASIN SUMMARY

Transcription

1 Project Proposal STRENGTHENING COOPERATION FOR FLOOD MANAGEMENT IN ZAMBEZI BASIN SUMMARY This proposal Strengthening cooperation for flood management in Zambezi basin addresses the increasing flood problems that are being faced in the basin. The five main countries sharing the Zambezi Basin (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe) are reported to have suffered considerable losses of live from flooding and flood damages since the turn of the Millennium. Some 10 million people are reported to have been affected by floods and some 1500 people to have lost their lives. Total damages have been estimated at an equivalent of more than 900 million USD. (Source: EM DAT) During the recent years the incidences of flooding in the countries sharing the basin is more frequent and more intense due to increasing climate variability. In future this climate variability is likely to get more acute due to climate change. Integrated Flood Management approach serves as one of the most effective mechanisms for adaptation against this potential climate change and one of the best ways to reduce risks due to these climate risks. The present proposal is to strengthen cooperation mechanism between the countries sharing the Zambezi River basin. It is recognised that such a mechanism to be successful requires confidence building and its success depends on sharing the immediate benefits of working together. As such this proposal costing 1.5 m euros spread over 3 years period covers the phase I of the project. The present proposal has been developed based on the knowledge available in the WMO secretariats and the detailed proposal will be developed through an inclusive consultative process during the inception stage of the project. Due considerations have been given to making use of the existing mechanisms and the outputs from various national and regional projects. The project would also try to contribute to the re vitalisation of the Zambezi Action Plan undergoing at present. 1. INTRODUCTION The Zambezi is the fourth longest river in Africa after the Nile, Congo, and Niger, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is 1,390,000 km² slightly less than half that of the Nile. Numerous tributaries flow into the 2,750 km long river whose basin drains 8 countries: Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, Tanzania and Namibia. Many rapids interrupt the river's flow, making it unsuited for navigation; however, its navigable stretches are used for local traffic. The Zambezi's most spectacular feature is Victoria Falls, the world's largest waterfall. Other notable falls

2 include the Chavuma Falls at the border between Zambia and Angola, and Ngonye Falls, in Western Zambia. Three large lakes lie within this basin. Kariba Lake impounded by Kariba Dam and situated at the Zambia/Zimbabwe border is one of the world's largest human made lakes. So is Lake Cahora Bassa, a 270 km long lake in Mozambique. Lake Malawi, one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in Africa, lies at the eastern end of the basin, and its water flows into the Zambezi only shortly before it reaches the Indian Ocean. Besides that, numerous places exist where the Zambezi itself or a tributary has been impounded to form smaller lakes, such as Lake Katombora. The north of the Zambezi basin has mean annual rainfall of 1100 to 1400 mm which declines towards the south, reaching about half that figure in the south west. The rainy season occurs for 4 to 6 month when the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone moves over the basin from the north. Evaporation rates are high (1600mm 2300 mm) and much water is lost in swamps and floodplains, especially in the south west of the basin due to evaporation. There are two main sources of hydroelectric power on the river. These are the Kariba Dam, which provides power to Zambia and Zimbabwe and the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique which provides power to South Africa. There is also a smaller power station at Victoria Falls. 2. FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT IN ZAMBEZI BASIN 2.1 Need for an Integrated Flood Management approach Integrated Flood Management (IFM) is a development policy concept aiming at minimizing the losses of life from flooding and at the same time maximizing the efficient use of floodplains within the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. The IFM concept takes into account the situation in many developing countries where floodplains cannot and perhaps should not be abandoned. Flood risk management has to be taken to

3 reduce the risks associated with poverty, lacking access to resources, food and livelihood insecurity. The IFM concept also takes charge of the fact that climate variability and change has the potential to further exacerbate flood risks, which are already rising due to factors such as population and economic growth and large scale land use alterations. However, IFM approach requires addressing the flood management issues in a river basin holistically requiring inter disciplinary and inter departmental collaboration and cooperation. It requires stakeholder s participation from early stages of policy formulation and implementation. It becomes particularly more challenging in trans boundary river basins. One of the pre requisites in such cases is to bring various agencies together to build confidence and with a view to share the data and information across the boundaries. It calls for common denominators of interest. 2.2 Existing flood management practices Zambezi River and its tributaries are flooded regularly in some part of the basin or other. These flooding provide tremendous natural resources in terms of rich soils, fisheries and wild life on which the livelihood of millions of its habitants depend. Unfortunately these floods often impact the population adversely by way of loss of life, damage to property and infrastructure and disrupting means of communication. Numerous examples in some of the countries in the basin demonstrate that floods are among the most damaging natural disasters. Flood damage ranges from loss of lives to widespread crop destruction and other economic activities. Many parts of the basin in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are subjected to floods, one example being the Kafue Flats in the Kafue Basin. The floods of , , and 1994 are some of the years when the floods in Zambezi were devastating. The most recent floods in the Basin are the wide spread floods associated with flashy floods which occurred in various places in the 2005/2006 rainy season. Presently, each country is managing flood issues at national level and no regional/basin mechanism or tools for flood forecasting well developed in the basin. The existing mechanisms for regional coordination and their shortcomings are briefly described in next section. Another issue is poorly maintained Early warning Systems. Cooperation and communication between riparian states can sometimes pose a challenge and it is also hampered by problems of poor communication facilities. Despite the fact that Angolan sub catchment of the Zambezi River Basin contributes significantly to the water resources of the whole basin, it is very difficult to get information from Angola which would be very useful for early warning. The meteorological forecasts are not being fully utilised in flood forecasting in the countries due to little collaboration between hydrological and meteorological services. 2.3 Existing Regional Coordination Mechanisms There is a lack of basin wide cooperation and integration in the Zambezi River Basin and it is only in a few areas where cooperation between and among countries exists within the basin. At present there is no single organization with the responsibility for water resources management of the whole basin. Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM), signed in July 2007 is undergoing the ratification process. The existing cooperation mechanism is discussed in the following sections The Zambezi Action Plan (ZACPLAN) Based on the a diagnostic study of the Zambezi basin carried out by experts from the riparian States and international organizations including UNEP, an Action Plan for the Environmentally Sound Management of the Common Zambezi River System referred to

4 as Zambezi Action Plan (ZACPLAN) identified the issues and problems that needed to be addressed in order to promote integrated, sound, and sustainable management and development of the water resources of the Zambezi River Basin and prevention of both intra and inter State conflicts over the use of its waters. The Council of Ministers of SADC, adopted ZACPLAN as part of the organization s Programme of Action in The overall objective of ZACPLAN is to promote development and implementation of environmentally sound water resources management for the entire Zambezi river system. The specific objectives of ZACPLAN can be summarized as follows: Create an appropriate legal and technical framework for cooperation between the riparian States of the Zambezi basin Establish mechanisms for information exchange and promote joint or coordinated management of shared water resource; Create the necessary mechanisms for prevention and / or resolution of potential conflicts among and / or between riparian States, over the use of the water resources in the basin; Promote a balanced development of the shared water resources based on an equitable and fair access by all riparian States. Establish a basis for cooperation in environmental protection and conservation; One major shortcoming of the plan is that it does not address the flood management issues. However, there has been little progress in the implementation of the plan. Accordingly the ZACPLAN is presently going under review by the SADC WD with the objective of improving and align it with the programmes that have been developed by the SADC WD and other Sectors of SADC. The revision of the ZACPLAN will also help to identify constraints at technical, institutional and financial levels, and devise solutions for a sound and coordinated management of the water resources in the basin The Zambezi River Authority The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), a joint undertaking of the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe was founded in October The ZRA is governed by a Council of four Ministers, two of each State and is financed through direct disbursement from the two countries. Primary functions of the ZRA are: Operate, monitor and maintain the Kariba Dam Complex, Investigate the desirability of constructing new dams on the Zambezi River and make recommendations thereon, Construct, operate, monitor and maintain any other dams of the Zambezi River, Collect, accumulate and process hydrological and environmental data of the Zambezi River for the better performance of the functions and for any other purpose beneficial to the contracting States, Regulate the water level in the Kariba reservoir and in any other reservoir owned by the ZRA, Make recommendations, which will ensure the effective and efficient use of the waters and other resources of the Zambezi River. The ZRA operates 12 telemetry and hydrographical stations where water levels are monitored daily. Flow measurements are carried out at seven of these stations. The hydrometric network is used for day today operations of the Kariba reservoir, the management of power generation, and the flood control and drought analysis. 3. OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVE The goal of the project is to contribute to sustainable development and poverty alleviation in the Zambezi River Basin. The overall objective is to reduce human sufferings and

5 damages from, and capture the benefits of, floods in the Zambezi basin by integrated management of flood risks in the basin and strengthening cooperation for managing floods in the basin. The overall objective of the project would be to: Promote awareness about flood management issues, build political commitment and trigger action at all levels, Help assimilate principles of Integrated Flood Management in the Zambezi basin Support actions at all levels, local, national, regional or river basin that follows principles of Integrated Flood Management, and The project will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will address issues directly linked to flood risk management for the main Zambezi river basin, build cooperating mechanisms for sharing flood management information among the countries and build capacity for flood hazard mapping. The second phase will be devoted to embark on detailed flood mapping for risk assessment and extend the project to the sub basins and habitation centres. It will depend greatly on the outcomes and experience of the first Phase. The following proposal present phase one of the project. 3.1 Phase I Objectives Specific objectives of phase I would include, (i) Building confidence among the riparian countries in managing the risks from flood through basin wide data and information sharing through modern system for data collection and management, data exchange and information dissemination, (ii) Institutional strengthening and improved institutional linkages to enhance regional collaboration and institutional capacity to assist the countries in Zambezi basin to cooperate and coordinate during flood events and reduce their vulnerability to flood hazards. (iii) Improving the capacity in the country for issuing flood forecast and warning. This will be achieved by greater interaction between the National Hydrological Services and National Meteorological Services and organizations that are responsible for disaster management in each of the riparian countries. (iv) Introduce Integrated Flood Management (IFM) approach to flood risk management in the basin Phase I Outcomes It is expected that at the end of phase (I) the outcomes will include the following: (i) (ii) A mechanism for exchange of flood information and data. Operational flood forecasting system in the basin including a reservoir inflow forecasting system (iii) Improved flood response for major habitation centres vulnerable to flood risks (iv) Improved capacity in the countries to undertake flood mapping as a first step towards flood risk assessment. (iv) Greater awareness of various stakeholders on integrated management of floods within the Zambezi basin. 4. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION An Inception period of six months will be devoted to development of a detailed project proposal, including preparation of an implementation plan. This will require an iterative process of consultation with different stakeholders and existing institutions in the basin including Zambezi River Authority, IUCN, OCHA, the ongoing national programmes of the riparian States, etc. The aim will be to refine the project concept and components, identify

6 and prioritise tasks and activities, prepare a comprehensive project budget, conduct technical, economic and financial analyses, identify social and environmental issues, determine implementation and institutional arrangements, and prepare necessary documentation. The project is planned to be delivered in 4 components: Interaction with various stakeholders. Establishment of flood forecasting and reservoir inflow forecasting system in the main Zambezi River Flood mapping Training and capacity building A description of each component is provided below. 4.1 Component 1: Interaction with various stakeholders. A three day Regional workshop will be organized under the auspices of the SADC WD and the Zambezi River Authority. This will be an inception workshop organized as a forum for all stakeholders in the basin. The target group of stakeholders will consist of representation from Government Ministries and Departments, Local Council Authorities, Disaster Management groups, existing institutions in the basin, academicians/researchers, non governmental organizations (NGOs), media, and farmers and fishing associations in the flood prone areas. Each riparian state will organize two day National workshop involving all stakeholders at national level with similar objectives to those of the Regional workshop Proposed Activities Organization of one Regional workshop Organization of sixteen National workshops Engagement of Consultants and Resource persons Expected Results Raising awareness on the importance of cooperation for flood risk management in the Zambezi river basin; Introducing/emphasising the Integrated Flood management (IFM) concept of flood management Getting stakeholders inputs on the proposed approach in implementing the project; Exploring the best ways for coordination of project activities and sharing of data on floods in the Zambezi basin; and Identifying the regional needs and gaps in terms of data and information necessary for flood risk management. 4.2 Component 2: Establishment of reservoir inflow and flood forecasting system The focus of project implementation should be on provision of flood forecasting services for the Zambezi Basin. A Flood forecasting system (FFS) will first be established in the main Zambezi River. This will be undertaken through the establishment of Flood Forecasting Centres (FFC). Access to both hydrological and meteorological expertise is desirable for effective flood forecasting. The prerequisite for establishing such centres is existence of a unit within the existing organizations in the basin having professionally trained and technically skilled personnel. It is proposed to establish three centres in the main Zambezi river system each covers certain area as follows: Upper River up to the Victoria Falls; The Middle Zambezi up to Lake Cahora Bassa; and The Lower River up to the Indian Ocean.

7 One centre could be established within the Zambezi River Authority if it has a clear institutional mandate for flood forecasting and relevant professionals Proposed Activities Establishment of three Flood Forecasting Centres Strengthening the network and data transmission Improving modelling facilities Organizing workshops for NHSs, NMSs and Disaster Management Authorities Expected outputs A flood forecasting system A forecasting system for reservoir inflow Flood warning, dissemination and communications The flood forecasting system on the main Zambezi River will consist of the following: (a) A dedicated data acquisition networks and data transmission system. This will entail establishing a real time reporting network of about 6 river gauging stations at selected locations on the Zambezi. (b) Upgrading of existing data collection and transmission networks. This will involve rehabilitation of existing stations that will be deemed necessary in ensuring an optimum network. The Zambezi River Authority has augmented this network. These will be upgraded where necessary. It should be noted that rainfall data will be collected from the existing network in the basin. This will also rely on satellite information available from existing projects in the region (c) Improved Data processing and archiving systems. (d) Operational forecast modelling systems (software, hardware, data receiving capacities) The forecasting system for reservoir inflow will also be established in the major reservoirs in the basin, including the Kariba Reservoir, Cahora Bassa reservoir and Itezhi Tezhi reservoir in the Kafue River. Procedures similar to those in the main Zambezi River will be followed in establishing the forecasting system in the reservoirs. This will go hand in hand with the updating of existing procedures for dam and reservoir operations, e.g. Standing Operations Procedures for Kariba Dam and Reservoir, which clearly outlines steps to be taken during an emergency, including floods. Flood warning, dissemination and communications: Effective delivery of relevant information in a form readily understood by, and useful to, intended users, from government agencies to floodplain dwellers, is essential. For effective outcomes to be achieved, the flood forecasting must be linked to a flood warning system and a flood emergency response system capable of rapid response, but this will be part of Phase II of the project. 4.3 Component 3: Flood mapping Preliminary assessment of flood porn areas will be undertaken using remote sensing and historical approaches. Detailed activities will be implemented and appropriate flood mapping tools will be applied in phase II of the project Proposed Activities Workshops for the use of satellite information Preliminary assessment of flood porn areas Expected Results

8 Preliminary Flood Maps 4.4 Component 4: Training, capacity building and regional cooperation Staff will be trained to enhance their flood forecasting capabilities as well as in flood risk management and data communication. The target will be to use the improved forecasting capabilities in conjunction with reservoir operations to maximise economic and financial benefits to the riparian nations. This component will be implemented by developing compatible technology and information databases; establishing formal mechanisms and organizational linkages for data and information exchange; coordination of emergency response efforts; organization of regular joint activities to support national capacity building, technical initiatives and good practice guidelines; and facilitating regional studies and analyses Proposed Activities Training workshops Developing compatible technology and information databases Establishing formal mechanisms for data and information exchange Facilitating regional studies and analyses Expected Results Trained staff are available Compatible technology and information databases are established Formal mechanisms and organizational linkages for data and information exchange are established Coordination of emergency response efforts is established Regional cooperation and collaboration is strengthened through exchange of expertise and data/information, sharing of experience, professional development and institutional capacity building, and technology transfer regionally. 5. LINKAGES WITH OTHER PROGRAMMES IN THE REGION The project will collaborate with existing institutions and programmes including SADC WD, ZRA, OCHA, ZACPRO 6 Phase II, SADC Disaster management Programme, SARCOF Programme. There are also several WMO activities that the project will collaborate with, including the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project in Southeast Africa (SWFDP), under the auspices of WMO, which develops Numerical Weather Prediction products for precipitation. These would be very useful in the flood forecasting and reservoir inflow forecasting. Although WMO in its regular activities has been consulting different partners in the region, detailed discussions on the mode of cooperation will be undertaken during the inception stage of developing the project proposal. ZACPRO 6 Phase II Programme The ZACPRO 6 Phase II programme is spearheading the formation of a Zambezi Watercourse Commission. In the meantime, the Project is involved in bringing together Hydrologists from all basin states to meetings at the start and end of the season to share their experiences and problems in operations which include flood risk management. This has helped a lot in establishing contacts and cooperation in sharing information on flood occurrences and other disasters. SADC Disaster management Programme

9 Where prevention and mitigation of disasters are concerned the riparian countries work closely with the National Disaster Management Units of the riparian states who in turn have a very good cooperative arrangement with each others within the basin as part of SADC. SARCOF Programme Riparian countries work very closely with WMO SARCOF programme where regional meteorologists come together to prepare a regional rainfall outlook. This forms a major planning tool for reservoir operations and preparation for possible floods. SADC HYCOS Phase II WMO in Collaboration with SADC WD and with financial support from EU and the Netherlands government developed the SADC HYCOS project. After successful implementation of phase I, the project's second phase started in 2005 with the aim of consolidating/redesign of the regional observation network, further development of the subregional and national water resources information systems, identification and development of hydrological products of regional interest and training and awareness building. SADC HYCOS Phase II is underway to install more DCPs and also rehabilitate the DCPs installed during phase I that are not functioning well. The Zambezi River Authority has augmented this network by installing 6 DCPs, three on the main Zambezi River and three on its tributaries for Kariba reservoir operations and flood management. 6. BUDGET (Removed for confidentiality) 7. TIMELINES The first phase of the project is scheduled to be undertaken over 3 years. The first 6 months will be an Inception period to prepare for field activities. The main project activities will be implemented in the following 24 months. Activities Inception period Component 1 Component 2 Component 3 Component 4 Time Schedule Year 1 Year 2 Year