Following on from the first African Climate Summit, which closed on 6 September 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, the capitale of Morocco, Rabat is hosting the very first African Water Forum (AWF) from 2 to 3 October 2023. As in Nairobi, the aim for African states is to find joint, innovative solutions to the continent's water-related challenges, particularly water stress.
Government decision-makers, water operators, service providers and water and environment training and research institutes and academies will have three days to consider Africa’s water future in Rabat, Morocco. The capital of the kingdom is hosting the first African Water Forum (AWF) from 2 to 3 October 2023, under the theme “Integrated management of water, energy and agriculture for sustainable development”. The meeting is being organised around six months before the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, from 18 to 24 May 2024.
The AWF is being held at a time when stress is more than ever a challenge for African countries. On average, 418 million people on the continent still live without drinking water, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Water is also needed for agriculture. This situation is exacerbated by drought, which is a consequence of climate change.
Read also –
So how do we balance supply and demand? Bearing in mind that between 2013 and 2023, sub-Saharan Africa’s progress towards achieving the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) was just 5%, the current rate of access to drinking water is 30%, according to the AWF.
Low-carbon water
In addition to improving water networks, the solutions to be discussed in Tangier will also cover approaches to reducing the carbon cost of water production. This will be done through the following workshops: “Can the water industry achieve net zero, and if so, how? ”Ensuring socio-economic strength through water resilience”, “Water security and network security”, “Low-carbon desalination”, “Digitalising asset management”, “Preparing for the water needs of green hydrogen”, “The water-food nexus and the use of Agtech”, “Reusing treated wastewater”, and “Atmospheric water extraction”.
Water management is also of vital importance to the future of agriculture in Africa, and AWF participants will also be looking at innovative irrigation techniques. For this sub-theme, the debate will focus on the following themes: “What strategies should be used to prioritise and intensify irrigated agriculture?”, “How can irrigation be made a pillar of new government strategies for sustainable development?”, “What technologies are suited to African contexts?”, “How could smart irrigation revolutionise our agriculture?”, and “What solutions are there for smallholders and small-scale farming?
There is also an urgent need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels for water treatment. Alternatives do exist. They will be presented at the AWF.
For more information on the Rabat Water Forum, click here.
Inès Magoum
