This
is my final blog post and will go over some of the key points and conclusions I
have drawn from my explorations of the politics of water and development in
Africa. My aim from this post is to tie together the incredibly variegated
topics that I examined in my seven posts.
Looking
in particular at the politics of water, it is obvious that questions of water
access and provision are inherently political. This is the case whether it is
the local politics of massai herders vs. farmers, or the nation-state level
geopolitics of dam building. The politics of water in Africa plays out between
many different stakeholders and at many different levels.
I
have particularly enjoyed examining water in Africa from a different
perspective every week; travelling through different countries and communities
and learning about so many new places.
What follows will be some of the key points and main
conclusions that have arisen during my blogs.
Importance of Water
Firstly,
looking at the politics of water highlights its sheer necessity and importance;
it is essential for the survival and flourishing of nations. This significance
is exemplified by the lengths people are willing to go to secure water;
building huge-scale dams, engaging in bloody conflicts or walking miles
everyday to collect it. Furthermore, clean water is also essential in
mitigating water-borne diseases which can be fatal, such as the 2000 cholera
outbreak in Johannesburg affecting over 100,000 people.
Water is always political
My
next key idea is that, due to its importance, the provision and access to water
is always political. Often water provision may not be logical or
technocratical, but rather politically motivated such as Kwame Nkrumah’s
building of the Akosombo Dam. The dam was a huge political symbol for Ghana’s
post-independence movement towards industrialisation rather than a merely
practical method of generating hydroelectric power. A further example of the
politicality of water is the Nile Basin conflict over water access; whilst it
may be logical to provide water based on need (such as population size), Egypt
takes the vast majority of river flow due its strong geopolitical power. The
representations of water in Africa are also political in the way they portray subjects.
My blog post on representation highlighted that often Africa can be stereotyped
as poor and helpless in order to gain sympathy and donations for charity. However
this can be incredibly harmful, and thus
greater consideration about the representation of water in Africa is needed.
Water access and provision is incredibly varied
The
politics of water in Africa manifests itself in many different forms and a
method of water provision can work in one place but not another. It must be
noted that Africa is not a country –
it has incredibly varied climates, peoples, politics etc. and thus there isn’t
a one-size fits all solution to water issues. This is exemplified by water
privatisation which worked well in Cote D’Ivoire, yet had seriously negative implications
for water access and quality in the Dolphin Coast, South Africa. Further to
this point, it is important to think critically about water in Africa and look
past potential stereotypes such as ‘privatisation is always bad’. To find
solutions to Africa’s water concerns, innovative ideas are needed and
open-mindedness will certainly help. For example solar-powered wells in Kenya
reducing conflict over water.
Cooperation over conflict
Finally,
I have found that in all cases cooperation is far more useful than conflict and
will lead to better outcomes for all parties. My blog post on the relationship
between water scarcity and conflict highlighted that the popular media has
forwarded a dystopian view of the increasing water scarcity in Africa. However
examples of farmer-herder discussions in Tanzania, or River Basin initiatives
such as on the Nile show that cooperation is certainly possible and has helped
significantly. If we are to tackle Africa’s increasing water scarcity, cooperation
is to be needed far more than conflicts.
I
hope you have enjoyed my blogs over the last term and learned from them as much
as I have. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback about my
blog posts.
