The Project
DAFNE is a four-year project funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action category. This project is being carried out in the transboundary Zambezi and the Omo river basins in Africa. It investigates how water, energy and food are managed in these areas and explores options for sustainable and integrated management for the future together with stakeholders from the two regions.
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Transboundary cooperation in water management:
The DAFNE Nexus Approach
Paolo Burlando, Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources Management,
ETH Zurich and DAFNE Project Coordinator
At the Bonn Water-Energy-Food conference in November 2011, it was generally acknowledged that global trends, in particular population growth and rising economic prosperity, are expected to increase the demand for energy, food and water. This poses a significant risk to sustainable resource use. Pressure on natural resources is expected to result in regional, if not global, shortages, affecting people who are already at risk, hampering economic development, contributing to social and geopolitical tensions, and causing lasting environmental damage.
A comprehensive approach to analysing the water-food-energy (WEF) nexus leading to sustainable development is needed. It should address not only the tsechnical dimensions of the problem, but also account for social, economic, and ecologic dimensions. Two aspects are of paramount importance for supporting adaptation in rapidly developing economies – such as those of African river basins – faced with rapid population growth and climate change:
- developing a better understanding of the WEF nexus in complex and transboundary water resources systems that are under significant pressure from human demands;
- developing and adopting novel management approaches.
The DAFNE project addresses the ongoing transformations in these regions by means of an integrated and participatory approach that can trigger change by promoting a shared learning of the risks and opportunities associated with these nexus-related challenges. The project combines excellence in research across a broad range of disciplines, from engineering and environmental sciences, to social science, economics and law.
In particular, DAFNE strives for effective transboundary cooperation based on scientific evidence and clearly articulated laws and policies that promote fair and sustainable use of water resources. DAFNE will demonstrate the potential of this novel approach in two illustrative case studies, the Omo Zambezi river basins.
DAFNE will establish a decision-analytic framework (DAF) using a Participatory and Integrated Planning approach for analyzing the two basins from WEF nexus perspective. The DAF multi-step process will quantify the anticipated effects of alternative planning options. It will involve stakeholders from the basins in the process from the outset who will work together with project researchers, to gain a fuller understanding of the impacts of resource exploitation and identify pathways to sustainable development.
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DAFNE kicks off in Zurich
Christian Knieper, Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrueck University, Germany
Hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, DAFNE’s kick-off meeting took place in the beautiful city of Zurich in early September 2016. Project partners from Africa and Europe gathered for the first time to set the stage for their joint research endeavours over the next four years. After an introduction to the project by the coordinators, Paolo Burlando and Andrea Castelletti, the work package leaders outlined diverse aspects of the envisaged research, and the case study leaders provided an overview of the Omo and Zambezi river basins. Project partners discussed opportunities for and challenges to the planned interdisciplinary activities, which are intended to support the sustainable management of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in fast growing developing countries. In addition to a lively project-related exchange, the participants also had occasion to enjoy Swiss cuisine during a joint dinner in a traditional Zurich restaurant.
During the DAFNE kick-off meeting, project participants highlighted the potential of models for gaining a better understanding and management of the WEF nexus. Furthermore, stakeholder involvement will be indispensable for tailoring project activities to the needs of local actors and to regional particularities in the Omo and Zambezi river basins. The DAFNE kick-off meeting in Zurich has successfully laid the foundation for a fruitful African-European research partnership. Many exciting activities will follow in the years to come.
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DAFNE's first stakeholder event in the Zambezi
On the morning of February 2nd, the Zambian Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection, the Honourable Lloyd Mulenga Kaziya, opened the first stakeholder meeting of the DAFNE project on integrated water resources management in the Zambezi.
Minister Kaziya welcomed more than 20 organisations and companies from the Zambezi basin to the meeting in Lusaka including, among many others the Zambian Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM), the Zambian Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO), the regional network for water management WaterNet and Zambian Sugar Plc, as well as the Zambian ministries of agriculture, energy and water. Their common interest in the sustainable management of water, energy and food production within the basin, was the binding element of the two-day meeting.
Minister Kaziya stressed that the resource challenges faced by the Zambezi countries are primarily related to water resources including food and energy security, lack of infrastructure, and increasing floods and droughts due to climate change. He called upon researchers, practitioners and the private sector to join forces for the improvement of water management strategies through projects such as DAFNE.
Managing the trade-offs among agricultural projects, hydropower generation, and other uses is a challenge for our system according to Professor Zebediah Phiri of ZAMCOM, who also presented in the opening session. ZAMCOM, he stressed, has a central role in coordinating these activities but needs simple, robust and useful tools, such as those being developed in DAFNE, to consider the multiple objectives in the basin. Echoing this, Dr. Kenneth Msibi, Water Representative of Southern African Development Community (SADC) expressed the organisation's support for the project particularly in light its potential contribution to SADC’s Strategic Action Plan.
The stakeholder meeting, the first of several that will be held in the basin over the next few years, was organised by local DAFNE partners, the Integrated Water Resources Management Centre at the University of Zambia, led by Professor Imasiku Nyambe. Professor Nyambe and his team who organized the event, are co-leading the project case study in the Zambezi basin with Dinis Juízo, Associate Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources Management at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. The meeting was co-hosted by DAFNE’s coordinating partner, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, led by Professor Paolo Burlando. A similar event will be organized in the Omo basin in late 2017 or early 2018.
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Complex water data visual-analytics:
the DAFNE geoportal
Andrea Castelletti, Assistant Professor of Management of Natural Resources, Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Deputy coordinator of DAFNE
The DAFNE project is developing and using a broad set of tools and methodologies to support river basin planning at various spatial and temporal scales. In doing so, it considers many drivers, variables and stakes at once, making data visualization and management a big challenge in the large and complex Omo and Zambezi rivers.
To address these needs, the DAFNE project is developing a GEOPORTAL. This GIS-based web tool developed with open source solutions will provide an effective way to access and analyse the enormous amount of data the project is expected to collect and generate. The geoportal will feature:
- A relational geo-database to store all the data and outcomes of DAFNE in a safe and efficient way;
- A web interactive map will present spatially distributed information and provide quick access to physical variables and indicators of the basin system according to their geographical location;
- A dynamic chart tool to inspect the temporal dimension of the time series and to compare collected data or baseline scenarios with future scenarios, taking into account climate projections, demography trends and infrastructure development plans;
- A description of sustainable development pathways and analysis, including the temporal dimension.
The DAFNE Geoportal is expected to support the project activities in many different ways. The first prototype version will be used by project partners to share relevant data, maps and preliminary results among them. The Negotiation Simulation Lab will use visual tools in the Geoportal tool to inform discussion and support data-driven decisions. Stakeholders could use the Geoportal for their own in-depth analysis through customised access to geoportal content. The general public can use it to browse through DAFNE’s final results. Finally, a DAFNE Summer school and online curriculum as well as other means of disseminating results, will use Geoportal for teaching and capacity development.
Technical aspects of the Geoportal: the DAFNE Geoportal will rely on a fully open source stack, ensuring portability and flexibility: postgresql + postgis for data storage, istsos for time series management, geoserver for map publication, drupal cms for content and user management and D3js for data visualization.
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This section of our newsletter is devoted to introducing our post-graduate and post-doctoral researchers. We are delighted to have them involved in the project
Gladys W. Kan gi is a Master’s student in the interuniversity programme in Water Resources Engineering at KU Leuven & VU Brussels in Belgium
Located in an arid area, the Omo river delta in the north of Lake Turkana is a huge wetland. Gladys' Master’s thesis seeks to investigate the effects of land use/land cover changes in the Omo basin to the Omo delta size fluctuations. Multi-temporal satellite images show that the Omo river delta has been fluctuating in size over time. Previous researchers attributed changes in the size of the delta to lake level fluctuations. However, it has become apparent that the delta size variations can be an indicator of climate change and land use/land cover changes in the Omo basin.
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Fritz K leinschroth is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecosystem Management at ETH Zürich in Switzerland
Fritz is a landscape planner and recent PhD graduate in forestry and tropical conservation science. He just joined the Ecosystem Management group at ETH Zürich to work on the DAFNE project as a postdoctoral researcher. He will use spatial ecological data to look at ecosystem services and how they have changed depending on land use transitions over time. Fritz’ main interest is in how people and nature interact within landscapes as socio-ecological systems. To learn more about his work and to view his publications visit http://fritzK.weebly.com.
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Caro line Lumosi is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Environmental Systems Research at Osnabrück University in Germany
Caroline’s main line of research is understanding how to create spaces for learning within trans-boundary river basin management among competing and conflicting actors in Omo and Zambezi Basin. Her interest relates to understanding learning processes within multi-stakeholder engagements under contested power, trust and identity contexts. Previously Caroline was engaged in climate change communication and knowledge management research focusing on semi-arid regions in Africa.
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Dr. Jean-Marie Kileshye Onema, Network Manager of WaterNet
The  Zambezi basin is considered to be vulnerable to climate variability and change as evidenced by the frequency of disasters such as floods and droughts. Research shows that there has been an increase in the occurrence and severity of disasters in recent years impacting the livelihoods of Zambesians. Coupled with a dramatic rise in population and economic activities such as the mining industries and the subsequent increase in demand for more energy and water in the basin, WaterNet has therefore increased its efforts to build capacity to develop solutions to the these problems.
Based in Zimbabwe, WaterNet is a regional network of university departments and research and training institutes specialising in water. Its PhD programme is supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) in collaboration with the University of Kwazulu Natal, University of Zambia, University of Twente and University of Zimbabwe. The programme currently comprises three PhD students supported by five IWRM Masters students from the WaterNet regional programme. Several of the students are profiled on http://www.waternetonline.org/phd-programme
The doctoral research work effectively started in January 2015 and sought to firstly uassess the increasing effects of hydropower facilities and the implementation of environmental flow requirements. Secondly, it assesses how land conversions and climate changed over the past few decades and how hydrological behaviour and water balance have been affected. Finally, the research determines the socioeconomic impacts of flood disasters, evaluates the level of disaster preparedness to reduce the impacts of flood disasters on livelihoods.
WaterNet has also trained PhD students through short courses in themes such as developing an Integrated Water Resource Management approach to climate change and adaptation measures, and the application of remote sensing techniques for water management in irrigation systems. Students are also sponsored to attend conferences within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond to build their confidence and presentation skills. This has seen two of the PhD students winning awards for best young scientist presenter for the themes they presented.
Recently one of the PhD students was accorded an opportunity, through World Meteorological Office, to present her research findings on the influence of gender and age on the choice of adaptation strategies in Zambia and Namibia. The presentation was made at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly held in Vienna, Austria. The event was an excellent opportunity for this student to collaborate with other research scientists from around the globe and gain skills on how to present using a PICO (Population, Intervention, Control, Outcome) format. More results from the doctoral research work being undertaken will be presented during the upcoming 18th WaterNet symposium scheduled for 25-27 October 2017 in Swakopmund, Namibia. The call for abstracts for the 18 th WaterNet symposium can be found at http://www.waternetonline.org/downloads/proceedings
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In each issue of the newsletter, we profile in brief the project activities of a DAFNE partner. This month we present ICRE8, International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy, based at the University of Athens in Greece, and led by Professor Phoebe Koundouri.
ICRE8 has the important role of leading the project activity involving models of economic, demographic and socio-cultural developments, and to propose water governance and environmental policy principles. The models of economic development will support the principle of sustainable development; hence, combining social development indices/proxies and environmental protection. This will be translated into mathematical tools to make it possible to connect them with the WEF nexus modelling and with the Decision Analytic Framework (DAF) led by the project partner, POLIMI. The DAF will enable the exploration of robust adaptation pathways in the context of rapidly changing conditions and climate change. Demographic trends and migration-driven population displacements will be also be addressed by means of models. This will be addressed through “social models” developed in a participatory approach together with stakeholders by the Institute of Environmental Systems Research (Osnabrück University). The development of “social learning models” being undertaken by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI-South Africa) will contribute to the understanding of stakeholders’ perception of competition among water uses, thereby including water needs for the preservation of natural resources, and examining how such perceptions can evolve in relation to specific, newly-designed policies.
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12-13 June, 2017. The sixth Zambia Water Forum and Exhibition: Water, Sanitation and Sustainable Development Goals: What is Zambia Doing? Lusaka, Zambia.
11-13 July, 2017: International Conference on Geology, Mining, Mineral and Groundwater Resources of the Sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead & IAEG-Africa Regional Meeting. Livingstone, Zambia. Organised by the School of Mines, University of Zambia (UNZA)
25 – 27 October 2017. 18th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWPSA Symposium - Integrated Water Resources Development and Management: Innovative Technological Advances for Water Security in Eastern and Southern Africa. Swakopmund, Namibia. Jointly convened by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences and the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. Early bird registration before 17 August, 2017
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GLOBAQUA
Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity, GLOBAQUA focuses on six river basins where one of them is is a north African basin (Souss Massa in Morocco). The selected basins encompass a rich set of socio-ecological conditions (forested mountainous areas, highly populated regions relying on water transfers, agricultural areas and industrial clusters) and a wide geographic coverage, but are all affected by water scarcity either due to climatic or societal reasons. The main aim of GLOBAQUA is to achieve a better understanding of how current water management practices and policies could be improved by identifying their main drawbacks and alternatives. Project website: www.globaqua-project.eu
Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land Project (IS-WEL)
The Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land project run by IIASA in Austria together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization ( UNIDO) , is identifying integrated approaches to energy, water, food, and ecosystem security in selected regions of the world. These are regions facing multiple energy and land use challenges and rapid demographic and economic changes, and are hardest hit by increasing climate variability and change. Case studies (Zambezi and Indus river basin) will work with regional institutions and country-based stakeholders to inform cross-sectoral assessments and to provide strategic advice on nexus interactions, infrastructure investments, and opportunities for transboundary cooperation.
The project is trying to answer questions about how to achieve the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) that were set in 2015 with respect to climate change and sustainable development, including:
- how these goals can be jointly addressed;
- the costs of inaction; and
- how problems in one area may exacerbate or mitigate problems in other areas.
Download the project brochure here.
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Holmatov B, Lautze J, Manthrithilake H, Makin I. Water security for productive economies: Applying an assessment framework in southern Africa. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. Parts A/B/C. 2017 Apr 2
Achieving water security has emerged as a major objective in Africa, yet an analytical or diagnostic framework for assessing water security in African countries is not known to exist. This paper applies one key dimension of the 2016 Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) to assess levels of water security for productive economies in countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Economic aspects of water security cover four areas: economic activities in the broad sense, agriculture, electricity, and industry. Water security in each area is measured through application of a set of indicators; results of indicator application are then aggregated to determine economic water security at a country-level. Results show that economic water security in SADC is greatest in the Seychelles and South Africa, and lowest in Madagascar and Malawi. Opportunities for strengthening economic water security in the majority of SADC countries exist through improving agricultural water productivity, strengthening resilience, and expanding sustainable electricity generation. More profoundly, this paper suggests that there is clear potential and utility in applying approaches used elsewhere to assess economic water security in southern Africa.
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Koundouri, P., Palma, C. R., and Englezos, N. (Forthcoming 2017) ‘Out of sight, not out of mind: developments in economic models of groundwater management’, International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics.
In this paper we provide a brief overview of a simple aquifer model, stressing the need to be clear on the framework, and indicate the directions in which it has been extended (environmental externalities, nonlinear functional forms, symmetric and asymmetric game theoretic structure, etc.). Then we discuss the impact of uncertainty on groundwater models, while we focus on the different methods applied to estimate the total economic value of the parameters used in groundwater models (direct and indirect values, option values, passive values) by categorizing these methods in revealed preference methods, stated preference methods, benefit transfers and laboratory experiments. Finally, we look at “what can be done” in terms of policy choices and highlight the way forward.
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Koundouri, P. , Akinsete, E., Englezos, N., Kartala, X.I., Souliotis, I. & Adler, J. (Forthcoming 2017) “Economic Instruments, Behavior and Incentives in Groundwater Management”. In: Villholth, K., Conti, K., López-Gunn, E., Garrido, A. & van der Gun, J. (eds). Advances in Groundwater Governance. Leiden: Balkema Editions
This chapter provides an overview of the contemporary groundwater literature and shows what is currently being done to achieve sustainable groundwater management. First, models for groundwater management are presented focusing on resource modeling under uncertainty, in particular uncertainty surrounding the effect of climate change on groundwater resources and trans-boundary frameworks. Then, the ecosystem services approach and the concept of the TEV of water is presented in more detail. Furthermore, we show where and how these new concepts are integrated in policy frameworks and present applied examples of sustainable water governance. Last but not least, we venture out to the future of sustainable groundwater.
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