Sustainable, participatory IWRM Capacity Building Workshop

Atelier de renforcement de Capacités sur la Gestion durable des bassins fluviaux en Afrique

November 5-8, 2012, Cotonou, Benin

Minutes

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List of participants

1. Mawusé HOUNTONDJI, JVE Benin2. Christian HOUNKANNOU, JVE Benin3. Sena Alouka, Jeune Voluntaire d’Environment, Togo4. Dowou Etche, JVE Togo, Togo5. Anani Kondo, JVE Togo, Togo6. Halinishi Yusuf, Environment Liaison Centre International, Kenya7. Serah Munguti, Nature Kenya, Kenya8. Robert Kugonza, National Association of Professional Environmentalists,

Uganda9. Dickens Kamugisha, Africa Institute for Energy Governance, Uganda10. Abby Onencan, Nile Basin Discouse, Uganda11. Ken Kinney, Development Institute, Ghana12. Vijay Paranjpye, Gomukh Trust, India13. Mane Amy Kebe, OMVS/African Network of Basin Organisations (ANBO)14. Bakary Kone, Wetlands Mali15. Emmanual Seck, ENDA/representative of Drynet http://www.dry-net.org/ 16. Mame Tacko Diallo, Eau Vive Sénégal17. Ibrahim Toko, Aquaded Bénin, Bénin18. Josea S. Dossou-Bodjrenou, Nature Tropicale, Bénin19. Tobias Schmitz, Both ENDS20. Annelieke Douma, Both ENDS

Summary

Forthcoming

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Minutes

Please note all (power point) presentations are available upon request. These minutes provide summaries of the presentations only.

Monday November 5th, morning

Annelieke Douma, Both ENDS

Both ENDS’ mission is to empower environmental organisations in the global South who aim to oppose unsustainable interventions and to promote sustainable alternatives. The Negotiated Approach (NA) is based on the premise that local actors have crucial knowledge and experience on the basis of which they can plan their own livelihoods. Local actors are involved from the start in planning for their own future and the NA attempts to level the playing field in decision making in River Basins. We organised a meeting in Entebbe of African NGO’s in 2011, aiming to establish to what extent local NGO’s in Africa would be willing to engage with the NA. This workshop is the result of those deliberations: here we are, at a workshop to establish the utility of moving forward as an international network of NGO’s working on participatory IWRM in Africa.

Arnaud Bruno Zannou, Water Resources Management Programme, Ministry of Energy, Oil and Mining Research, Water and Renewable Energyies Development, Benin

The integrated management of water is an attempt to manage water in such a way as to maximise well-being while taking account of the constraints of the ecosystem in the river basin. Because the provision of water is focused on the service of a number of economic sectors and regions, water management must by consequence be a participatory process. In Benin we have passed our water law in 2010 and we are faced with the fact that all four basins – even the Oueme - are transboundary basins. The Oueme is by far the biggest basin in the country, then there is the Niger, the Volta, and the Mono basin. How therefore can we achieve IWRM in Benin without participation, when we share our water with all these other countries? At the moment there is a limited presence of civil society in the management of river basins. I would like to congratulate the NGOs from Benin’s civil society in their lobby efforts with regard to the new water law. We have three focal areas: the creation of a national agency for water management, the establishment of a financial structure, and the establishment of a national advisory platform for water management. The latter is an expression of our willingness to engage with all actors in a participatory structure in decision making around themes related to water. Water is no longer the domain of engineers but more and more, local communities are getting involved and efforts like those of this meeting to help us to move forward and implement our participatory intentions.

Vijay Paranjpye, Gomukh

The subject in this workshop is the Negotiated Approach to river basin management. NA is not only about the empowerment of local communities but also works on an empowerment which is sufficient for the government to feel that the management of the river basin can be (partly) handed over to communities. River basins include many things: land, water, air and other resources. There are many participatory approaches, but only the Negotiated Approach aims to hand over the management of the administration to local communities. This is organised around the river basin as an administrative entity rather than other areas: citizens are inhabitants of basins. The NA is also about natural resources protection, facilitated by government, but communities are the ones who are doing it. Another important aspect is social equity – between nations and between

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stakeholders. Enabling communities to actually look after their own resources is the final end point of the NA: it is not about just participating in official processes, but about what is actually going on on the ground and making sure that communities can manage resources themselves. Even in Europe or Australia the management of the rivers has not been transferred to those who live in the river basins themselves. True IWRM often remains on paper. Sustainable development is the preserve of the people, not of the international discourse.

In the Kaweri River in India there was a river basin plan developed in the 16th century which worked on a cascade of small dams and water systems along streams coming together, ensuring the availability of water working in liaison between the king and local experts. This was not just the river itself: they talked about ‘Akash Ganga’: sky water, the groundwater and river water taken together. Other river valley civilisations have developed they own sustainable forms of water management historically and they are to be the basis of future water management. This is a key principle: do not move away from local knowledge but build on it, adding scientific information. Do not conserve water but respect it and adjust to it: negotiate with nature also on the basis of the principle that we need to submit a bit to nature. We must understand IWRM in broader terms, including climate itself. This is a more holistic approach. The last requirement is money: we need to negotiate also for money. The NA opens the whole gamut of discussions. Everything is negotiable.

What have we managed to do in the last years? We started in 1998 when the GOI changed national guidelines for river basin planning. Engaging in policy is very much part of the NA. In 2003 the revised national water policy in India was produced which recognised environmental flows as a key part of the policy. We demanded that environmental flows should be preserved to ensure continuous perennial flow. In 2005 in Maharashtra we passed a law known as the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority which would start managing water. They put out tenders and specifically for the Godavari river which is a trans boundary river involving three states. In 2008, Gomukh was given the task of managing a part of the Godavari river with a population of 2,6 million people. As an NGO we negotiated with the government for an advance on the funding. We were given about 750 000 to start the process. In 2009 we submitted our initial report based on group meetings with communities: forest dwellers, fisherfolk, agriculturalists, and industrialists. In 2010 the final plan was prepared and accepted and needed to be reiterated several times, both by government agencies and by communities. It took two and a half years to do the water balance studies which were checked with common knowledge and this went into two rounds. In 2012 we published our inception report which was presented to communities and to governments with key questions around timelines, MDG commitments, and so forth. Now last month we have sent a PDF copy of our report that we have created to government. Final point: these are long processes that time a lifetime before one understands what is going on. It transcends administrative boundaries and five year political processes. Ultimately this is a conflict resolving system which works in addition to and outside the legal system.

Questions to Vijay

Ken: Do you have suggestions for innovative ways of financing such processes?

Vijay: First there was no money, but communities themselves collected it. Costs rise enormously when you bring in international actors. So it was locally mobilised, on a small scale.

What tools are there to better link to communities?

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Vijay: We needed to translate proposals and information from local languages to Hindu and to English. Than made simple again for communities. English version is 130 pages, in local language it is 24 pages. Also: use traditional group meetings that take place at night, when everybody is at home. These meetings may take 3-4 hours, they are informal meetings. Outcomes are converted into scientific jargon. It is the only way to do it.

Ken Kinney, Development Institute

The Dayi basin is a sub basin of the Volta basin. It drains into Lake Volta. It is highly degraded by poor land use planning and practices, pollution, deforestation etc. The ADAPTS programme provided opportunities of local communities to engage in managing the river. Opportunities are the fact there is a common interest of stakeholders in water availability; there is a draft Buffer Zone policy, and new National Water Policy. Key issues are climate change which impacts on subsistence, on rain-fed agriculture, producing prolonged dry seasons and effecting land use changes. Unknowns are water related diseases in the basin, a study on flooding and effects of flora composition. DI engaged in local action: empowerment of communities, reducing vulnerability through switching from rain-fed to irrigation agriculture, drought resistant crops etc. What needs to be build is a basin level farmers’ network.

A power mapping was done of several stakeholders and policy dialogue. There is now a ADAPTs farmers network and a Dayi Basin board in place with local representatives. Unclear is the link between the board and district authorities, also unclear how to engage farmers in the board. There is a need to create more awareness.

Draft ADAPTS film was shown.

Key challenges: How do we increase motivation of communities in their own development? How can engagement with powerful stakeholders be more effective? How can we move away from projects and make it something sustainable?

Questions to Ken

Jan: I just visited the area. Main problem is the deforestation in the area. What work is done on that?Vijay: in response to climate change, resilience is important. Disaster management is just as important. Orientation towards disasters: how does DI and communities deal with that?Dickens: communities are achieving positive results. Why is their engagement not enough?Abby: is the irrigation sustainable?

Ken: yes, it is sustainable as it comes from the river. On engagement: yes, there are activities, but what happens if there is no project? What happens after that when there is no donor money?On disaster management: what is needed is better information on flooding. In October this year there was a serious flood. So we link them to the Disaster Management Organisation of the government. We asked them to go there and take data and support them. But more study is needed on when floods can be expected. On deforestation: critical issue indeed. We have planted trees but more is needed. The government is also taking it up, but insufficient. Also through CREMA: Community Resource Management Areas.

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Mame Tacko: What are the concerns the people have? The population provides their concerns, then this data is considered in a second phase and translated. Involve them in water management. The Master Plan of Senegal is based on feedback of the people. Animators can go to the local communities. There was no link before so this is a break. We are closer to the population.

Bakary: toolbox developed on different stakeholders. How do they take account of people downstream of dams. What was reaction of the people upstream from the dams.Emmanuel and Ibrahim: to what extent are governments involved?Ken: Di closely worked together with the Water Resources Commission from the start. There are open and enthusiastic about the ADAPTS approach.

Sena: should NA be applied in any situation? I would say yes. What has really happened or changed since you came into contact with the NA. Ken: it has helped to empower communities and it has helped to reduce power differentials.

Mame Tacko: what is the added value about the NA that makes it make a difference in Ghana? Is it the NA or is it the will of the people in Ghana to make something participatory work. Vijay: yes we need to validate the NA and link it into existing structures.

Amy Kebe, ANBO

Representing Tamsir Ndiaye, will provide brief overview of African context. Continent-wide water has become scarce and therefore there are increasing challenges to continued economic growth, to sustainability, to population growth, etc. Therefore cooperation is not just a wish but a necessity. The role of ANBO is in holistic, democratic and decentralised water resources governance. ANBO stimulates the strengthening of regional cooperation through transboundary water resources management. There is a joint project with the GWP called CIDWA on advancing IWRM in Africa. We aim to transform ANBO into an organisation that can support IWRM development in the region. ANBO works with AMCOW to engage all stakeholders. ANBO is developing a strategy together with AMCOW for the involvement of stakeholders in river basin planning in Africa.CODESEN experiences: state-civil society relations are never smooth. When Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso met to establish the OMVS, civil society participation was not on the agenda. Since then the OMVS has moved from a top down structure to a much more participatory structure and CODESEN now works with 22 Coordination Committees to discuss the management of the river basin with local communities. We have held many workshops at community level. We also organise focus groups to understand the importance of legal structures in enabling the avoidance of conflict. Some lessons: government civil society relations are uneasy and civil society needs to be involved from the very beginning. We are convinced that collaborations with local communities can strengthen local capacities and then civil society can complement the work of the state. There is still a big gap in stakeholder engagement. As far as gender mainstreaming is concerned, it is essential for sustainable development and it needs to be emphasised as a priority at the moment.

Questions to Amy

Vijay: I am missing the element of advocacy and policy dialogue. Sometimes civil society does need to engage more prominently and even confront authorities, who in turn mostly want to use civil society as the implementers of their programmes rather than as an opposition movement. However from time to time confrontation is necessary, and as long as it is non-violent, it is an essential element of the NA.

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Amy: Indeed although I am a regional coordinator I do confront and negotiate all the time because local participation is more a fashionable thing which people would agree to but when it comes to implementation we lack funds. It is not easy: you want to be a regional coordinator but you have to listen to local communities. Even as a gender specialist one has to go into confrontation and negotiation because women are sometime involved but rarely really in decision making positions.

Abby: at NBD we also focus on gender mainstreaming. Putting women in leadership position is important but how do you avoid them to resign after few years? How to nurture women who are trapped in male designed structured.

Amy: It is a game, not easy. Women are often not meaningfully engaged. It needs a long time. I do not have the answer either.

Sena Alouka, JVE Togo

JVE works on environmental leadership in 33 countries but with staff in 8 countries. Piloting the NA in the Mono basin: The basin is 24 000 km of which 3-4 000 km is in Benin and the rest is in Togo. One third of Togo is part of the Mono basin. In 2006 the first festival of the peoples of the river basin was held. In 2007 multistakeholder dialogues on the Adjaralla dam was held and in 2010 the government was pushed to accept 2 billion CFA in compensations. This was based on a 2008 analysis of stakeholder views on the Adjaralla dams, resettlement plans and a book of requests. The present study tried to understand the basin, to engage with communities and bring people together. 85 villages were covered, 2 people went for two months to engage with communities to discuss the water use and how they see the future of the basin. We held 12 community discussions. There is a conflict with nomadic pastoralists and JVE organised the first Mono basin people’s Forum (amazing interest from the people). In Benin eight communes were visited including Grand Popo (the Delta areas) and Athième (an area where a dam is proposed).

Results are first of all that awareness has been raised and some negotiations have been started for instance with the Central Electricity Board (for the very first time talked to the people) on water releases and flooding of downstream areas. In the north the pastoralists did not appear at the meeting but at least local communities know that something is happening. We know what is happening in the area and some things are really shocking. Many projects are being established by government and are not sustainable, therefore NGO involvement is essential. There is a lot of mining in the area such as phosphate which pollutes the water. There is land grabbing by foreign investors. How do we want to move forward? We want to create a Mono basin vision, build knowledge, build capacity, set up a conseil des peuples du Mono with a General Assembly in both Togo and Benin and then a Conseil des Peuples National (Togo and Benin). The official river basin forum is being established and they were happy to see the involvement of civil society. We hope to see the evolution of the Mono Basin Authority by next year. Needs are: money, studies. Good sign: Minister of Environment apologised for not being there at the People’s Forum.

Questions to Sena

Benin Water Partnership / PNE Benin: We hope that JVE will take account of the fact that Benin is a small but important part of the Mono Basin and we would like you to take account of this and share with us all your efforts.

Ibrahim Togo: yes, and Benin is a downstream riparian which suffers many of the problems of the management of the upstream areas of the river in Togo. Civil

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society in Benin is not as involved and advanced, but the people in Benin should also be involved n the set up of the Mono basin.

Mame Tacko: yes, and one must make sure that the participation is not confined to this initial stage of the process but that the communities are involved in the long term implementation of the programme.

Anani Kondo, JVE: JVE has worked from both Togo and Benin, having offices in both countries. In Benin, we invited communities to the same extent as we did in Togo. But when it comes to the studies we did the same thing in Benin as in Togo.

Christian Houkannou: JVE worked in the basin since 2011 so we have not been involved in the basin as long as JVE has. Therefore the response in Benin is much less prominent than it is in Togo at the moment.

Discussion on role of civil society in IRBM

Sena: could everyone please comment on what they have heard this morning? Douwo Etche, chef de Canton: I have learned a lot of things. The Mono basin is very big and I will go back to ask the communities to do the best they can to move forward the process. Amy: It would be good for the African river basin organisations to look into this concept, and this is because the implementation of IWRM is difficult in practice and we need tools like the NA. Mame Tacko: we are just learning about the meaning of the NA but it gets very close to participatory approaches which we already know although the NA seems to go even further. It is inspiring to see us working together at this scale and I think there are ways to work together in future. Immanuel Seck: I am still trying to link the NA to what we are doing as a network but one key point seems to be local action and the involvement of local communities in the management of local resources. NA requires informing people better; what are their resources, what is their potential, they need to be organised, get people together. It is an incremental approach. Jan Kamstra: I have seen the example of the Senegal whereby participation was not the starting point but because of the problems generated by the dams the organisation turned slowly to participation. I was impressed by the work of JVE in the Mono and I would suggest that you keep it small: river basins are big things to manage and please be humble. Vijay: Indeed not spreading it too thin, but at the same time ambitions are needed. Traditional knowledge is important and unfortunately most modern management does not incorporate spiritual values. In fact Ecological values have a spiritual undertone and need to be translated and incorporated into existing IWRM strategies. It is also a source of pride about their own knowledge about their own areas and if we want them to be empowered they should be respected on this basis.

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November 5th, afternoon

Robert Kugonza, NAPE and Dickens Kamugisha, AFIEGO

Lake Albert is shared by the DRC and Uganda. The Albertine rift is the richest in terms of biodiversity and the world: it contains 39% of African mammals, 51% of bird species, 19% of the amphibian species, 79% of threatened terrestrial vertebrates, as well as13 wildlife sanctuaries and 7 out of 10 national parks. Livelihoods: most people occupy dry grassland and engage in small scale agriculture. There is very little social infrastructure such as hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, etc. The area of the lake is 8759 km, divided into 11 oil blocks. Key sustainability issues are water pollution: both rivers and the lake. Pollution has negative effects on fish and the communities livelihoods. Also land grabbing by oil companies and land speculation. Likely conflicts between DRC and Uganda. Forests, biodiversity and wetlands being degraded. The river Wambabya, a tributary, is being affected because of being diverted for power generation purposes. The planned oil refinery is expected to use this river in the future.

Key opportunities are engagement by communities about their rights, the policy of decentralisation of management in the area, good cooperation practices between communities, increasing number of civil society actors in the area, increased interest of international community in the area, increased level of competence in the area, and a vibrant parliament. Key issues: knowledge development (understanding Ugandan law wrt access to information, right to associate). People are not getting information from government and companies because the information is being regarded as sensitive. Capacity building on oil management issues, naming and shaming corruption and violators of human rights, TV and radio shows on key issues. Policy dialogue: engaging with parliamentary committee on natural resources . Challenges; land grabbing, capacity building of key institutions like the Uganda Wildlife Authority . Urgent need to build civil society capacity, how to deal with the autocracy of government in stopping access of NGO’s to communities. Rivers are being channelled through turbines and dams: what happens to community rights to water?

Abby Onencan, Nile Basin Discourse

How does the NA apply to the trans boundary level? One, we have the cooperative framework agreement for the Nile which has not worked because it was an entirely government driven process in which public participation was even removed from the document. Secondly the grand Millennium dam is very controversial because if it fails it could kill many people in Sudan, therefore Sudan should be involved. In the case of Rusumu, the dam would have displaced many people in Burundi unless through negotiations a run of the river project is introduced. The Nile features a very low water percentage of water reaching the main river and an uneven distribution of its water resources. There are extensive aquifer systems which are not well understood and need to be better studied. Groundwater is a prominent source of domestic water supply in large areas of the Nile. Water quality has deteriorated. Furthermore the Nile has substantial electricity generation capacity: existing facilities represent 26% of the total capacity. There are widespread erosion and sediment problems related to the river course and downstream dams. Our regional actions focus on restoration of degraded water catchments that are critical for the area. Focus on Lake Albert: belongs to upper Nile system. Challenges are the high population growth, the development of oil, migration across the borders, biodiversity reduction, pollution, land use practices which are unsustainable, etc. There is no permanent River Basin Authority which can instruct Uganda to protect the headwaters of the Nile: it has been a long road getting to where we are now and we need to get it right at the local level so that the rest will come.

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Questions on Lake Albert

Amy: if Congo and Ethiopia can produce enough electricity for the whole region, is solidarity a key issue for the NA? Vijay: who has the right to negotiate? Is it just national governments? At the moment civil society is not allowed to do things but if the NBI has not managed to set up a proper authority then perhaps civil society should ensure that it is established in the way that they want it to be established.

Halinishi Yusuf, ELCI Kenya

River Tana is the longest river in Kenya, stretching over 850 km. The Delta is threatened by large scale agricultural projects (rice, sugar cane, beet) which have been initiated over the past 20-30 years. Poor land tenure systems also threaten to displace local people. There are conflicts over water within the communities and with the large scale producers. Opportunities we have are to strengthen community structures and building their advocacy skills to influence decisions affecting their resources (e.g. the Land Use Plan). Issues are unsustainable resources (ELCI wants to develop resource use plans for each economic category). ELCI wants to build the capacities of pastoralists, fishers and wild harvesters on sustainable production methods by setting up certification standards. ELCI will facilitate the establishment of a civil society network of Tana Delta resource users. There is quite a good database on socioeconomic issues. Over 10 CBO’s exist in the Delta but only a few are active. However those that are active are well informed. They are mainly village level institutions but they lack capacity, they need negotiating skills and conflict resolution.Currently many NRM legislation clauses are under review and a master plan and action plan for the Delta are currently being formulated.

Sera Munguti, Nature Kenya

Nature Kenya is more than 100 years old, is an international birdlife area. The Delta is 130 000 ha, recently declared a Ramsar site and home to more than 100 000 people. The river supplies more than 80% of the water for Nairobi. Also there are 5 dams producing hydroelectricity producing a major portion of Kenya’s electricity. Kenya has ambitions of getting to Middle Income Country status and the Tana Delta is very important in this growth scenario. The zoning for agricultural development has already taken place leaving little space for local communities. Aug/Sep 2012 more than 118 people were killed, 13500 people displaced and more than 30 000 people affected by violent conflicts. Many pastoralists are now denied access to the river and we believe than many of the conflicts are due to the diminishing amount of water in the river. The future therefore is bleak. The developments have been halted often through intensive international campaigns, new Ramsar sites have been recognised, there has been extensive community education, working with the office of the prime minister to initiate a process to develop a land use plan for the Delta informed by an SEA. Some tough choices will have to be made given the lack of water.

Emmanuel Seck, ENDA Senegal

All that I have heard so far was related to water and most of my presentation will be related to the ecosystem ‘earth’. Talking on behalf of a network which combats desertification called Drynet. Our main framework is the Convention to Combat Drought and Desertification (UNFCCD). There is a need to work together to place UNCCD on the agenda. Drynet was established in 2007 and now has 17 partners. 20 countries are represented by the NGO’s present. We engage at international level, organising side events at UNCCD framework and lobbying. Involved in the elaboration of National Action Plans. As the NA, Drynet focuses on lobby and empowerment. At local level, we raise awareness, support production organisations, promote local initiatives and build capacities. Currently national

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and local platforms around desertification are set up. Successful cases can for examples be found in Mauretania, Madagascar and Senegal. Key conclusions: to promote the integration of the management of water and land for local sustainable development and food security; Strengthen the mechanisms for coordination of actors at the local level; raise awareness on issues of land degradation and sustainable NRM; ensure decentralisation, and develop alliances for advocacy and lobbying at all fronts.

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Tuesday November 6th, morning

Tobias: Today we aim for more interaction rather than the large information absorption of yesterday. We suggest that we start with an open space to share your doubts and key questions with regard to the NA. Also for us it is a learning experience so we like to hear from you what questions you have.

Bakary: two main points. First, what is the target group of the NA: civil society? Second: what are the guidelines? What are the steps?

Vijay: depends how you see the target group: who uses it, or who you will target in the process? For example, it can be used within the basin itself: herders and farmers and fishermen. Than the targets are these actors. When you go from the local to the basin level the targets will change. Then there will be governments and other companies involved, those you need to negotiate with. In the up-scaling process to higher policy levels, the learning curve increases. Rather than targets I would call them concerned groups, those who need to be part of the negotiation.

Steps: in the conventional way there is a concrete starting point and ending point, with end-line objectives The NA has different starting and ending points. Civil society is often not involved at all in the starting point of the conventional way, often planning is already done in advance. The end point is about communities managing their resources themselves.

Emmanuel: indeed talking about civil society is not appropriate, more important to know who are the stakeholders, who are the concerned people.

Mame Tacko: when to negotiate, when start the negotiation?

Vijay: Ideally there are local nucleus. And you slowly move upwards.

Annelieke: Thing is that the NA is not a formula, it is not a step-by-step approach. It does have a package of key building blocks which can flexibly be used depending on the context. Each building block contains - often existing – tools and experiences to learn from. We intend to further work on this toolbox.

Ibrahim: NA is new in that the ecosystem is also a partner in the negotiation. That is where communities can meet because everyone has an interest in a healthy ecosystem. This is what I find very different.

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Vijay: nature can be represented by organisations or ecosystem researchers etc. So by people who are concerned or understand ecosystems.

Should negotiations be formal? Rather start with negotiating over the ToR and agenda of the platform itself first before entering in the negotiations.

Jan: In India you started with a lack of governance and giving people power to manage their resources themselves. That can work in a context of weak governance. But what about situations where governance is in place? NA should articulate that.

Sena: should we practice NA if governance is good?

Vijay: I only said it works best in situation where there is poor governance. But where governance is there it depends on whether it is fair and sustainable. There is no need for everything to be done by the central governments; it can be decentralised, let water users do it themselves. It is not about taking over government responsibility, but getting back the balance. It is part of the democratic process. There is no country where people fully agree with governance.

NA is not the answer, but an approach to sort things out and have the opportunity to wade through difficult circumstances. Everybody does a linear thing and reactive, not going through the big mess what is really needed: cross-displinary and across limits.

Serah: Sorry, but what exactly is the new element compared to what we already do?

Sena: we realised we are doing a good participatory approach in dam dialogues. Then we asked people to conduct studies on community consultation as apart of the NA inception phase. What I learned from NA is to do such studies differently, to ask different questions. My question is how to ensure JVE is not doing all the work? It is about what NA can bring, improve what we do. This is a process. When you use it fine, if not, than not. What is NA bringing for example is the aspect of traditional practices, the power of people.

Emmanuel: we are all involved in putting contents to the NA. The key difference is that you take a pro-active approach! We empower and give rights to the community.

Vijay: Nobody forces you to use the NA. It is the only approach which is not donor-driven. The name NA creates confusion sometimes. It is not about two parties negotiating, but enabling all stakeholders to negotiate on the same level. It is for example also about persuading government departments to start talking and get together, this is not something you do in a regular participatory approach.

Suggestion to BE is to make a toolbox of different avenues to take.

Ghandi said: we are confronting the government with the truth and do it in a nonviolent way. You would say this would never work, but it did work because he made it happen, he did it differently. We need to really try and be doing what we believe in to make it happen.

Ibrahim Toko, Aquaded Bénin and Josea S. Dossou-Bodjrenou, Nature Tropicale

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Oeme is longest river in Benin, area is 40% of national area, draws 5,2 billion cubic meters. River basin has two tributaries. There are two lakes, various fish species and an estuary. Large delta is declared as Ramsar site. 40% are fishermen, 70% inhabitants live in poverty. It has an important area for fishing. What are the constraints and threats in the basin: 1) pollution, from pesticides etc 2) non/unsustainable land use. The basins suffers from the effects of climate change and from the great variation in rainfall and the risks of flooding as a result of sudden rainfall. It is up to you to judge whether what we have done fits the criterion of the `negotiated `approach. In the case of ecomapping, we have a period of drought in February where there is no water at all in the river. This is alternated with a period of flood. The local citizens have knowledge of emblematic species and eco-mapping is a means of identifying the resources and the way in which they are being used by communities. This is in part in response to the gradual disappearance of local knowledge. Therefor we consult at different levels with different categories in civil society to establish an overview of local utilisation of the environment. This also brings with it conflicts with regard to access to natural resources. It is a process of participatory mapping which uses all forms of modern technologies such as GPS and cartography, even up to the level of creating a three-dimensional map of the area. This is then taken to the local authorities so that a decision can be taken with regard to protected areas.

Questions on ecomapping

Amy: is this map any different to a normal map? Josea: The main difference is the fact that it is participatory.

Ibrahim: Is there an indigenous approach? Yes, there is much more responsiveness of local communities when we are dealing with their own culture. Vodoo and fetishism is very important in determining the attitude of people to the planning process. We talk about eco-mapping as a means for the empowerment of local people: it is necessary to first understand how people think before one can proceed with planning. It is also a means to discover local capacities. The fact that we try to move towards consensus indicates that there is a process of negotiation to move towards consensus. There is a lot of emphasis on the relationship with local radio and other media. This is also used for advocacy purposes.

Bakary Kone, Wetlands Mali

I like to talk about integration of environmental protection in water management, the case of the Niger basin. Within the Ramsar Convention there is a model for a river basin management cycle. I will use the example of the Niger basin which has nine countries governing it. There are four sub-basins within the basin. My presentation will be on the delta which is located within Niger: the Inner Niger Delta, located on the Sahelian strip. It has the same characteristics as the Senegal and Chad basin deltas which are also located in the Sahelian zone. The Inner Niger Delta has been declared as a Ramsar site and produces 16% of the food produced in the country while being and important conservation site. The area of the Delta depends very strongly on the amount of rainfall in any given season and year. The productivity of the Delta is due to be severely affected by a number of dams to be built upstream such as Fomi. These dams will substantially reduce the areas flooded in the Delta. Also aspects of biomass production such as fish stocks are strongly linked to the flood regime. 1,5 million people are fully dependent on the resource of the delta for their livelihoods. In this area traditional authorities are still very strong and determine most of the decisions on the basis of traditional laws. We have been able to establish a platform of all the key stakeholders of different professional groups, local decision makers. We worked together with local stakeholders to inventories the kinds of environmental resources on which different categories of stakeholders utilise as well as key

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biodiversity hotspots. We mapped all resources use. We had an analysis of the services by the communities. A spiderweb-graph is created with regard to the importance attached to provisioning, regulating and other areas of serves provided so that we can establish what they know and consider to be important. We also analyse the key drivers of ecosystem degradation in order to move towards a strategy for amelioration. For example one of the key issues is the fact that dams take water upstream of the Delta and reduce the surface of the Delta and thus increase the degradation in the area. A second example is climate change which reduces the dependable amount for water in the river. Thus a model of causes and effects is constructed, divided into causes, states and impacts. This leads to suggestions for a range of solutions proposed at the local level and at the level of the basin. For each solution an evaluation is made in terms of its feasibility, its sustainability, etc. thus leading to a hierarchy of choices. One example of a solution which has worked is the link between microcredit and biodiversity conservation which we call the biorights approach. It is therefore very important to ascend above the local level and to think at the basin level. It is important to take decisions with the participation of both local communities and technical experts. There is a need for the multidisciplinary evaluation of the solutions proposed.

Questions to Bakary

Sena: how to ensure that Wetlands does not do all the work but hand over to local communities? How do you share complex info with local communities?Bakary: we simplify complex documents into a maximum of 10-15 pages and translate this into all local languages and share this. It is important to follow this up and raise the question whether these booklets have been used to influence the decision makers. With regard to interactions, we intermediate between the decision makers and communities in both directions such that for Fomi dam for example we are in the third phase of adapted decision making.

Vijay: government tends to release information selectively, what do you do about this? Bakary: start at the top and be convinced of what you are doing.

Ibrahim: you talk about traditional knowledge and powers. To what extent can you integrate modern knowledge coming from for instance European experiences with IWRM? Bakary: the management of pastures is done by a specific group and the same is true for fisheries. To work in these areas it is not possible to ignore traditional realities. In the wake of decentralisation it is these people who have become local government leaders and they have entered the formal power structure.

Vijay Paranypje: how to move forward from inception reports

Dealing with conflicts is not part of the official water management discourse at the World Water Forums or the GWP. We do not want to invite conflicts but it is very important to recognise that this is taking place and that we need to have a plan to deal with it.

Having said this, after having written an inception report we move forward to iterations. Asking for the response of communities to the existing inception reports is meaningless, the inception reports need to be de-bundled and each aspect that is relevant to each particular community need to be shared with them. This includes not only rural communities but also urban settlements, government actors, mines and so forth. This is the first level of sharing of the report. In the case of communities it is important to go through the elements of the report and invest time and long meetings to explain the context of the report, its meaning and receiving their input on the basis of what they have heard.

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The next phase is to collect and collate all these inputs into a second draft of the report. This can be done in either one or two iterations to accommodate a range of different inputs. When this document has been written, one can move forward to discuss investments scenarios and nature protection. At this stage the negotiations can begin because it is a synergy stage in which it is made clear that there are contradictions between the scenarios that each stakeholder group has for itself. Rather than seeking the maximum for each sector, the negotiations should seek the optimum compromise between the demands of each group. On some things there will not immediately be agreement and these can be put into a separate box for later discussion. For the rest the negotiations can continue. Additionally supporting studies can be produced that illustrate the consequences of the various scenarios for water resources, infrastructure, costs, etc. This provides additional input for the negotiations. This is not easy. The documentation of the statements made is very important in order to record the positions of each stakeholder and the commitments that have been made so as to be able to remind people of the commitments they have made. A water balance study is essential for the whole area which includes surface water rainwater and groundwater. It is important that the communities have this knowledge at their disposal for phase two.

From the outcome of these negotiations one can begin to develop plans for various regions and sectors. It is essential to do this planning exercise based not on assumptions but on concrete commitments and local needs.

Parking lot:

Expertise and tools for conflict resolution are essential to certain areas where there is water related conflict or other forms of conflict related to land, oil, etc. ;

There are many different approaches which can be used in different ways at different times to solve different issues.

We need a structure for exchanging lessons on the NA, on conflict at the continental level

ARN: response to large scale infrastructure development with powerful negative effects on communities and the environment.

Break out group sessions in the afternoon

A) Key challenges in the Dayi No good study on flooding and biodiversity How to up-scale the successful ADAPTS approach in the Dayi to other

basins in Ghana Link between Dayi Basin Board and district assembly is unclear and

chairmen of the board is selected by WRC WRC has not enough resources to implement the plans Long-term engagement of farmers

Key suggestions/discussions in group Important already that of 17 members in the board, 5 are CSOs (women’s

group, farmers group, DI, 2 traditional chiefs). Ensure 5 CSO members actively interact with to the farmers and other basin citizens.

The plan is there (including plans to tackle pollution and deforestation), but next stage should be pushed for, to get into action

Use Water Policy which asks for involvement of communities Tackle deforestation, not just water

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Find incentives for farmers to keep the trees (now 80% of land belongs to traditional authority, but the resources from it and the trees belong to the state). Ensure tress belong to them.

Focus on subsidiary legislation, which does not need to go all the way through Parliament

Further look into option from CREMA policy: community resources management area

Try pilots in which in a minor sub-basin law is implemented and use lessons to fine-tune the law. Start there where nucleus is strong.

On financing: look into options for communities being involved in biodiversity registries

Pilot innovative lift irrigation systems

B) Key challenges in Lake Albert How to get trust from the government? How to communicate with the

communities when we are not allowed to go to the area? How to deal with the oil companies?

Key suggestions/discussions in group Focus not only on Ugandan side, but also DRC:If there are tensions at

national level, try to construct a transboundary alliance by working together with the Congolese but also with international groups (Robert: yes we do work a part of Friends of the Earth International and we would like to link to the DRC side but M23 is still active there so government does not have full control of the area)

Look at the example for Nigeria, where the oil companies themselves are supporting local NGO’s to limit the damage by their own activities. Also, the director of Friends of the Earth International is based in he Niger Delta , why not contact him for advice because he a has a lot of experience

Find champions, empower community leaders, make use of role of the kingdoms

Focus on pilots rather than a large area at once Apply different methods to get better results Make contact with companies in oil, get information: have you tried

actually making direct contact with the companies and talking to them rather than lobbying government

Do you know exactly what it is that you want to achieve? Do you want to conserve the environment or do you want to ensure jobs as a result of development?

It is a very delicate issues and it is not possible to stop the companies, but it is possible to look at the economic interest of the environment: can you not work on a business plan based on environmental values (tourism, etc) and present this to banks as an alternative investment? This will bring new powerful stakeholders into the area.

Aim for a commonly perceived vision for Lake Albert, get communities together, mobilise them as basin citizens. The Sustainability Villages of NAPE are a good starting point.

Use (social) media, e.g. set up a social network on facebook/blogspot Map the area, the resources and the power relations of different

stakeholders, than you can begin to think of what are potential allies. Also map the mining areas –IUCN can share.

Have MP go to oil area

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Think about framing the issue. E.g. focus on water quality (pollution from oil) and use e.g. convention on biodiversity, Law on natural resources etc. Or focus on Right to Information, Right to Participate, Access to Justice.

Depoliticising the issue? Be not too afraid of politicising. What is needed is to politicise the communities, so they ask the right questions

C) Key challenges in Mono No scientific study on hydrological cycle in Mono How to deal with conflict between pastoralists and farmers: there is limited

literature on conflict between pastoralists and farmers from a scientific perspective which makes it more difficult to intervene

Some projects need to start tomorrow already: workj on the dams and opposition to land grab is urgent

Momentum is built in the area, how to maintain it? How to further empower CSOs, also in Benin How to feed in conclusions in the Mono Basin Authority being set up?

Key suggestions/discussions in/ from the group In India many displaced people have traded compensation with shares in

the benefits of dams: A financial option is to look into shares & bonds in dam operation, where people get a share in the dams. This has the risk of indirectly supporting the dam

It looks like some major projects have already been implemented without taking the needs of communities into account. It is important to clearly indicate who the main stakeholders are within the various communities in the basins.

An in depth study is needed in to the key statistics in relation to water, but at the same time the communities are not aware of the studies that have been carried out. This needs to be shared with them and then you can establish what will be the focal points for management of water at the local level. This can then be scaled up through workshops at subcatchment level. At the same time the opportunities are huge.

Mame Tacko: you have made a good start, but your activities need to be lifted up to the level of the whole basin. It is important to begin to understand all the expectations of the people living in the basin and above all to show them its richness in order to initiatite discussions on its future

The River Basin Authority has not yet consulted with the population but this makes your work very strategic. Make sure that you document everything very precisely and you will become very useful for them in future. Avoid all the noise in relation to ‘civil society’and focus on water users: this will make your task easier. Make use of the local municipalities because they in turn can get civil society involved.

Where there are conflicts wiuth pastoralists, make sure you negotiate routes for stock to pass, and it is possible to construct dams and other systems to hold water for stock watering

Show alternatives to large dams In parallel to the Mono Basin Authority you can set up a CSO Authority Show them they cannot god around you, make sure they will need you Make your own plan so you have things to show In India, a basin board was not set up, but instead the people set up their

own Parliament- this pushed them to take action. Map all relevant institutions Make sure ambitions are realistic, be smart Dig further into basin, find local initiatives

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Wednesday November 7th, morning

D) Key challenges in Tana Delta

Many companies want to use the same resource for development and there is much conflict also between communities, between farmers and pastoralists. How to conduct planning in a conflict situation?

The Office of the Prime Minister may not exist next year. A new body may come in. At county level also new people and institutions are coming in. How to deal with this political shift?

How to best empower these communities, for them to value their resources more, so they have a better bargaining position?

Key suggestions/discussions in/ from the group

Ken: Best is to start no activities until political change is over. Wait until new people come in.

Vijay: start a process called conflict transformation. Here you can use the NA. In every conflict there is an opportunity.

Dickens: same situation in Uganda. Bring MPs from both sides. Create credibility, so they come to you as an NGO.

Bakary: Wait for election. If you plan now you may go against your plan. Mame Tacko: best way to manage conflict is to use traditional method to use.

Train moderator, who has influence and can play a role of referee, not only NGO but also local elites. Grassroot arbitration. Community building: emphasis on practical tools: training on management of resources.

Emmanuel: you depend too much on politics, which can change from one election to the next. You should focus on working with local communities. It is important to do a study of all the things that relate people to nature, this is an important basis for working with them;

There is also a task ahead for conflict: the area available for communities is being reduced so the area needs to be improved by having corridoors for transhumance and established grazing zones

Christian: Do you have political leaders in the Tana Delta who are both political and technical and who understand the issues of civil society: they can be of great hep in getting your message across.

Ibrahim: there are two levels of conflict: what do you want to resolve? At the local level the conflicts should be resolved through negotiation: this is possible. The conflict with the companies and the expansion of plantations is another matter and another scale fo conflict altogether. It is very important to remain neutral, to build your conflict resolution skills and to identify those within he community who are willing to discuss. Make sure you place limits for everybody, laying down the rules of the game for negotiation. What you can also do is find other people who have this neutrality and have mediation skills and who can be placed in charge of the process.

Bakary: the Tamna basin is no longer a local conflict, it is an international issue! Continue to work on the management of the land, but at the same time please do not forget the water: discussions are not yet focused on water but this will come. Focus on an avaluation of the potential offered by the water resources. This will aid both government and the community. Serah: ELCI and Nature Kenya have experience with conflict between communities. CBOs and forums have been formed. And taking government to court. There is the peace committee etc. But now in the midst of all this, people are rising against each other, we have never seen anything like it.

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Vijay: you say it is unique complex conflict situation. But in fact all conflict situations are complex and there is a historical background. There is also a political element. Even than what can you do? We had the same in India.

First is to re-establish lines of communications. These lines should be neutral. Second is to identify commonalities between the conflicting groups. For example interdependence on economic factors, or ecosystem factors or physical or historical factors. Third: de-bundle the conflict, break it up by converting it in small parts. Making them realize there are some issues which are difficult to handle, but other may be managed. The fifth is not to plunge into it, not take sides. Stay at a distance. Key word is neutrality. Only way to go. Select neutral activities to enter: water resources assessment is neutral, land use mapping is neutral. Biodiversity assessment is neutral. Do not do all the communications. We had a Maoist and Marxist group, all were armed. Really worse situation. Yet there were people amongst militants who are willing to talk. We did not make friends, but we were excepted as neutral parties. This is what government never does. They either leave them or suppress conflict which only make things worse. Allow conflicts points to be raised.

Last point: change the game by saying: we are here to find out if there is an investment project, how would you want to benefit? How to select investment option. Contact people like this because you open up access. Look for new things in which you can join. E.g set up communication system. It took al long time but we succeeded.

Halinishi: concentrate on communities. Inventory of cultural value attached to the land. Urgent: negotiate for cattle corridors. Livestock keepers and farmers. Need to carefully select allies that we have at community and higher levels to build a strong alliance. Need to establish clear strategy on what to address first.

Serah: Do we as conservationist group need to work on conflict resolution? Red Cross Kenya could be a vey good neutral party to take a lead (very respected in Kenya), which NK can support. Need to build up coalitions. Community empowerment.

Abby: we realsied we had to deal with conflict Vijay: next step? NA does not always need a conflict, but when it is there you

cannot deny it. Start by accepting the conflict. No planning process is possible without addressing it. What is needed is de-bundling and iteration. So sharing the plan. Than when you get the feedback you synergise it in the next stage. You can than have another round of iteration. Ecological synergizing and economic synergizing. Analyse the different interests, get these stakeholders together and have them negotiate. Not maximize but optimize the benefits. This is most critical phase. Documentation is very important.

A good water balance must be done to show that all investment plans will not be feasible: not enough water for providing drinking water to Nairobi, for energy development, large0scale agriculture and maintain healthy ecosystems and lievlihoods.

Abby: also conflict in Albertine region. Good step by step approach to take home.

Price for best inception report was handed over by Amy to JVE!

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Tobias on funding and lobby opportunities

We started discussions at the World Water Forum in Marseille, presenting our joint commitment for sustainable river basin management in 15 basins worldwide. This commitment provided a good basis to take up contact with the donors, which we have started doing: in Stockholm contacts were made with donors: the Swiss, French. Also, we have worked on proposals for DGF in Uganda and in Benin and Togo proposals were sent towards UNDP and GIZ. This way we are trying to respond to national needs. Please let us know funding opportunities as well.

Towards the policy level: next year is the UN Year of Water Cooperation. This will be an important opportunity to showcase successes of civil society and to bring and get commitments. We have discussions with French and AMCOW to organize an international event in the Hague, Netherlands in September on transboundary water cooperation. We therefore also invited Amy from ANBO to try and create a formal link with ANBO to ensure a good dialogue with civil society. I also like to mention the Butterfly Effect, a coalition of over 80 CSOs that was able to collectively influence WWF6 in Marseille.

Way forward

ANBO: Really impressed by your work. What I will take home is to talk to Tamsir, head of ANBO. Our mandate is to strengthen existing CSO work at transboundary level. We like to stay in touch with this network, very important.

Ken: do we see this group as a network? What is the link with many other networks?

Ibrahim: great interest to be involved in this group with Oueme river basin.

Mame Tacko: also interest to be involved in this group

Tobias: network itself: Both ENDS felt it is important to bring CSOs together. Both ENDS aims to further support thus African CSO network and help linking to policy levels.

****Big thanks to JVE for hosting, to Vijay for his excellent contributions, and to all for their experiences, openness and energy!

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