Desecuritization as a Foundation for Benefit-Sharing:

Lessons from the Okavango River Basin

Mekong River Commission Forum29 November 2005

Chiang RaiThailand

Dr. Anthony TurtonGibb-SERA Chair in Integrated Water Resource Management

aturton@csir.co.zaPresident: Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters

www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu

© AR Turton, 2005.

Why should I worry about the future? What is in it for me?

The only thing we can change is the future. We are also going to live the

rest of our lives there…. So we better get it right!

Layout of Presentation

• Okavango River Basin• Securitization• Desecuritization• Benefit-Sharing• Conclusion

500 10000

Kilometres

N

Shared River Basins

Africa’s shared river basins contain:

• 61 % of the area

• 77 % of the people

• 93 % of the water

© Pete Ashton

100200300400500600700800900

10001250150020002500

Mean AnnualRainfall (mm)

0 250 500 km

NAMIBIA

BOTSWANA

SOUTHAFRICA

ZAMBIA

ZIMBABWE

ANGOLA

D. R. C. TANZANIA

MOZABIQUE

SWAZILAND

LESOTHO

MALAWI

= 860 mm isohyet

= World average rainfall

MEAN ANNUAL

RAINFALL

SADC Average Annual Rainfall = 948 mm

© Pete Ashton

Cuvelai

Kunene

Zambezi

Limpopo

PunguéBuziSave-Runde

Orange Maputo

Incomati

Umbeluzi

Okavango/Makgadikgadi

Congo

Nile

Lake Chad

NamibiaBotswana

SouthAfrica

Congo (DRC)

Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Lesotho

Swaziland

Malawi

Mozambique

Angola

250 5000

Kilometres

N

Rovuma

WATER TRANSFERS

IN SOUTHERN

AFRICA

Existing water transfer scheme

Proposed new water transfer scheme

© Pete Ashton

Namibia

Angola

Botswana

Map sourced

from GEF Report on Okavango

Delta Study

100 km

N

ZAMBIA

Boteti River basin

ZIMBABWE

NAMIBIA

ANGOLA

BOTSWANA R.S.A.

Deception Pan basin

Ntwetwe Pan basin

Sowa Pan basin

Okavango Basin

Lake Ngami

Okwa R.

Nata R.

Omatako R.

Cubango R.

Okavango Delta

Cuito R.

Kavango R.

Cuando R.

Chobe R.

Zambezi R.

Okavango River Basin and Makgadikgadi Catchment

AngolaAngola

NamibiaNamibia

A rich diversity of lifeBotswanaBotswana

Securitization

• Linkage between perceptions of national security (survival) with water security

• Driven by a specific Threat Perception• Shifts water resource management out of the

domain of the Technocrat into the domain of the Securocrat

• Data becomes classified as Secret• National interests dominate the agenda• Regional integration is undermined• Zero-sum in outcome

Desecuritization

• Politicization of water resource management • Changed posture based on different Threat

Perception• Shifts water resource management back into

the domain of the Technocrat • Data becomes accessible and institutionalized• National interests redefined in terms of

regionalism• Regional integration is stimulated• Plus-sum in outcome

Benefit-Sharing in the Okavango

• Cold War theatre of armed military confrontation

• Downstream reliance on ecological flows• Upstream need for rapid economic

development and post-conflict reconstruction• Possibility of paying upstream country not to

develop the resource• Needs robust institutional arrangement• Parallel National Action Approach

Parallel National Action Model

AWIRU© Anthony Turton

Nat

iona

l Le

vel

Sub-

Nat

iona

lSu

pra-

Nat

iona

l

WaterOther

WaterOther

WaterOther

WaterOther

WaterOther

WaterOther

OKACOM

OTHER

Possible PNA Model for OKACOM

AWIRU© Anthony Turton

Angola

Energy

Namibia Botswana

Tourism

Rural Development

Technical Committee (Engineers)

Inter-ministry Policy Coordination Unit

OKACOM

(National Commissioners)

Basin-wide Forum (Grass-roots representation)

Benefit-Sharing Model

W ater

E nergy

A ccess – Markets, Finance, Justice, Education

L and tenure

T echnology - economy

H ealth – human & ecosystem

Infrastructural Foundation

Policy / Legal Environment

Integration

Benefits

It is the normative aspects of the Policy / Legal Environment that enables Social Capital to be developed. This defines relationships and is the key for Benefit-Sharing.

Physical Capital

Social Capital

Human Capital

The water-energy nexus is particularly pertinent in the Mekong in light of the recent ADB report.

Benefit-Sharing in the Okavango

• Written up in Turton, A.R. & Earle, A. 2003. An Assessment of the Hydropolitical Dynamics of the Okavango River Basin. Paper presented at the 2nd Workshop of the Green Cross International Water for Peace Project on the Okavango River Basin, held at the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, Gobabeb, Namibia from 23-25 February. Available from the Website http://www.up.ac.za/academic/libarts/polsci/awiru

Benefit-Sharing in the Okavango

• Written up in Turton, A.R. & Earle, A. 2003. Discussion Document on the Implications of International Treaties on the Development of a Management Regime for the Okavango River Basin. Deliverable D 6.2 of the Water and Ecosystem Resources in Rural Development (WERRD) Project. African Water Issues Research Unit (AWIRU). Pretoria University.

Benefit-Sharing in the Okavango

• Written up in Turton, A.R. & Earle, A. 2004. An Assessment of the Parallel National Action Model as a Possible Approach for the Integrated Management of the Okavango River Basin. Deliverable D6.2 of the Water Ecosystem Resources in Rural Development (WERRD) Project funded by the European Union. Available online at (http://www.okavangochallenge.com/okaweb/wp6/default00748.htm).

Benefit-Sharing in the Okavango

• Written up in Turton, A.R. & Earle, A. 2005. Public Participation in the Development of a Management Plan for an International River Basin: The Okavango Case. In Jansky, L. & Uitto, J.I. (Eds.) Enhancing Participation and Governance in Water Resources Management: Conventional Approaches and Information Technology. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

Thanks to the Swedish Foreign Ministry