National, Regional and International policies in Water sector
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Rafik Hirji
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11 July 2025
251
153
Strengthening Africa's Capacity for the Integrated Management of Lakes and Reservoir Basins
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56542/wi.jwempo.v2.i1.a6.2025
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Keywords:
Lakes and reservoirs, water security, ecosystem services, climate resilience, lake basin governance, and the African Centre for Managing Lake and Reservoir Basins
Abstract
Drawing from over three decades of international experience, this policy review article advocates for establishing an African Centre to enhance Tanzania's and Africa's capacity to manage lake and reservoir basins comprehensively, highlighting their importance for water security, climate resilience, and ecosystem services. It differentiates between lentic (lakes and reservoirs) and lotic (rivers) waters. It discusses some of the world's largest lakes, including Nyasa, Tanganyika, and Victoria, which Tanzania shares with eight nations, and largest reservoirs (Kariba). Tanzania's lake storage capacity exceeds 9,100 km³, surpassing the combined storage of all 62,000 large dams worldwide. These lakes' estimated ecosystem services value is between $18.7 billion and $83 billion annually, with a natural asset value estimated at $1.25 trillion to $5.5 trillion. Current water policies, lake management programs, and GDP assessments overlook and undervalue these immense storage and valuable resources. Lake and reservoir basins are deteriorating and losing benefits rapidly. Improved lake and reservoir basin governance is urgently needed. This article shares best lake basin governance practices and calls on the Tanzanian and African governments to understand, recognize, and value lentic waters and strengthen African lake basin management capacities and practices to improve water security, climate resilience, and ecosystem services
