Interdisciplinary water research and education in Sub-Saharan Africa - the need for transboundary approaches

Transcription

1 Interdisciplinary water research and education in Sub-Saharan Africa - the need for transboundary approaches Pieter van der Zaag 25 November 2010

2 Overview 1. Water management is knowledge intensive 2. The global knowledge divide 3. The new water manager 4. Knowledge knows no boundaries 5. Water crosses political boundaries 6. By way of conclusion: Transboundary knowledge creation and sharing

3 1. Water management is knowledge intensive Why are some water-related problems so persistent? safe drinking water basic sanitation food land degradation safety against disasters

4 million mobile phones Rainfall (mm/10 days) y = 3.54 e x r 2 = Water management is knowledge intensive Aug-91 Nov-91 Feb-92 May-92 Aug-92 Nov-92 Feb-93 May-93 Aug-93 Nov-93 Feb-94 May-94 Aug-94 Nov-94 Feb-95 May-95 Aug-95 Nov-95 Feb-96 May-96 Aug-96 Nov-96 Feb-97 May-97 Aug-97 Nov-97 Feb-98 May-98 Aug-98 Nov-98 Feb-99 May-99 Aug-99 Nov-99 Feb-00 May-00 Aug-00 Why is there so much non-linear change? Lake Victoria water levels; Entebbe; water level above mean sea level (m) Maize (corn), U.S. No.2 Yellow, FOB Gulf of Mexico (US$/ton) Oil; Average of U.K. Brent, Dubai, and West Texas Intermediate (US$/barrel) Sugar, U.S. import price, contract no.14 nearest futures position (US cents/kg) average water level Jan-00 Jan-01 Jan-02 Jan-03 Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 Jan-09 Jan-10 Jan-11 Source: IMF Primary Commodity Prices November 2010;

5 1. Water management is knowledge intensive We need to sustainable systems with capacity to adapt to new circumstances premised on a sound understanding of biophysical, socioeconomic and political processes requires an ability to reflect, analyse, plan, design, implement, manage, operate, maintain and renovate water systems, and to anticipate change need for home-grown solutions water management thus is knowledge intensive But: the global knowledge divide

6 2. The global knowledge divide Source: UNESCO Science Report 2010

7 2. The global knowledge divide GERD as % of GDP GERD per capita (PPP$) World RSA SSA minus RSA Source: UNESCO Science Report 2010

8 Global share in Researchers Publications RSA 0.27% 0.53% 2. The global knowledge divide SSA minus RSA 0.57% 0.63% SSA 0.83% 1.17% Population Researchers World 6, % RSA % SSA minus RSA % SSA % Source: UNESCO Science Report 2010 GERD as % of GDP GERD per capita (PPP$) World RSA SSA minus RSA EU China India

9 2. The global knowledge divide Source: UNESCO Science Report 2010

10 2. The global knowledge divide Source: UNESCO Science Report 2010

11 Coverage (% of the population) , The global knowledge 7,000 divide Researchers in R&D per million people 9,000 6,000 5,000 y = Ln(x) R 2 4,000 = y = x R 2 = ,000 2,000 1, ,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 GDP per capita (PPP USD) ,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40, GDP per capita (PPP USD) 90 Access to improved sanitation data from Human Development Report 2006 (UNDP, 2006) access to improved sanitation (%) y = Ln(x) R 2 = ,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 Researchers in R&D per million people

12 2. The global knowledge divide Who sets the research agendas? Who determines what is science? Sanitation Rainfed agriculture terms in title, abstract or key-words articles water AND (supply OR drinking) NOT sanitation 55,631 water AND sanitation NOT (supply OR drinking) 1,464 water AND (supply OR drinking) AND sanitation 1,575 terms in title, abstract or key words articles water AND (irrigated agriculture) NOT (rainfed agriculture) 484 water AND (rainfed agriculture) NOT (irrigated agriculture) 146 water AND (rainfed agriculture) NOT (irrigated agriculture) 11 Source: Gupta & Van der Zaag, 2009; data from Scopus (

13 2. The global knowledge divide The need for critical mass! R&D researchers per million people 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1, HDI rank Data of 177 countries taken from the Human Development Report 2006

14 3. The new water manager A new type of water manager anticipate water problems careful in defining problems design and facilitate processes towards their resolution

15 3. The new water manager A new curriculum the conventional engineer: power to solve problems, focus on things, control over processes challenge these deep preferences of engineers So: broaden the required analytical and process-oriented skills combine disciplinary depth with interdisciplinary breadth open up to other disciplines

16 4. Knowledge on water knows no boundaries The importance of sound disciplinary knowledge the need for sufficient critical mass in order to become massively critical through pooling of knowledge resources and connecting experts and crossing political boundaries

17 4. Knowledge on water knows no boundaries The need for interdisciplinary understanding real-life water problems cut across disciplines disciplinary biases part of the problem (pipe, right or price?) interdisciplinary thinking is inhibited So: kick start change by creating a new generation of water specialists who are exposed to different perspectives develop a common understanding of key concepts towards interdisciplinary methodologies and approaches

18 5. Water crosses political boundaries as water happily disrespects political and other borders, a transboundary approach is the obvious thing to do peoples are tied to each other in space (thus interdependent), and therefore also in time And: --> hence a regional approach as sharing knowledge is a prerequisite for sharing water, and sharing water is more difficult then sharing knowledge start with sharing knowledge

19 5. Water crosses political boundaries NBCBN-RE as water happily disrespects political and other borders, a transboundary approach is the obvious thing to do peoples are tied to each other in space (thus interdependent), and therefore also in time And: --> hence a regional approach towards water makes sense transboundary research projects sharing water is more difficult then sharing regional capacity development projects knowledge WaterNet

20 In Search of Sustainable Catchments and Basin-wide Solidarities; Transboundary Water Management of the Blue Nile River Basin

21 In Search of Sustainable Catchments and Basin-wide Solidarities; Transboundary Water Management of the Blue Nile River Basin

22 In Search of Sustainable Catchments and Basin-wide Solidarities; Transboundary Water Management of the Blue Nile River Basin

23 Benefits of transboundary coordination - Blue Nile river basin Source: Goor et al., 2010

24 6. By way of conclusion: Transboundary knowledge creation and sharing Knowledge divide between Africa and rest of the world is huge This is hugely sub-optimal - not only from an African perspective but also globally - results in biased research agendas Clearly Africa cannot solve its problems on its own The academically affluent nations have to open up their resources to Africa - see e.g. AGORA, OARE initiatives

25 6. By way of conclusion: Transboundary knowledge creation and sharing 1. Combine education and research activities 2. Both disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches are needed 3. Collaborate at transboundary and regional level, S-S cooperation 4. Collaborate with the Global North (?), S-S-N cooperation

26 may seem costly yet is invaluable 6. By way of conclusion: Transboundary knowledge creation and sharing Transboundary knowledge creation and sharing: allows for critical mass creates a new generation of water experts: think beyond singular disciplines think beyond national boundaries is a prerequisite for water sharing is an investment in future peace

27