Pangani River Basin, Tanzania - gwp.org · Authors: Rebecca Welling, Megan Cartin, Stefano...

Pangani River Basin, TanzaniaBuilding consensus on water allocation and climate change adaption

IUCN WATER PROGRAMME – DEMONSTRATION CASE STUDY NO.2

WANI Case Study – Pangani River Basin 1

WATER AND NATURE INITIATIVE (WANI) CASE STUDY

PANGANI RIVER BASIN, TANZANIAAuthors: Rebecca Welling, Megan Cartin, Stefano Barchiesi and Katharine Cross

Climate change and the over exploitation of water resources is challenging the sustainability of the PanganiRiver Basin to deliver water services. Competition for diminishing water resources has led to tensions

between the various stakeholders within the basin.

Together with the government of Tanzania and donor partners, WANI has responded to this crisis bysupporting the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). This sought to bringtogether a variety of stakeholders by creating platforms for dialogue and encouraged collaboration towards acommon goal. The Pangani River Basin Management Project has generated technical information anddeveloped participatory forums, mainstreamed climate change, supported the equitable provision and wisegovernance of freshwater for livelihoods and environment for current and future generations.

Initially designed as a demonstration site, the Pangani River Basin Management Project proved to be anadaptive process through which strong foundations of good governance, stakeholder participation and IWRMwere cemented. Strong technical capabilities were combined with a long-term vision which continues to buildon results. The Pangani River Basin shows how implementing IWRM at the basin level can demonstrate howmitigation actions reduce the adverse effects of climatic variability due to climate change.

Water was over-allocated: more water was allocated to be used than was actually available. Prospects fordealing with water allocation and climate change were weak. Therefore, key to sustainable basin management,and ecosystem health, is allocating water within the limits of availability, including an allocation to ecosystems.Through understanding environmental flows, there has been a move to base decisions on evidence of howchanges in flow allocation impacts economic, social and environmental factors in the basin.

Highlights

m Information developed in the project including on environmental flows, climate change, watergovernance and groundwater is being used in developing an IWRM plan for the basin.

m Pangani Basin Water Board has the tools, knowledge and capacity to implement a sustainablemanagement plan.

m Application of environmental flows to assess the water flow and needs in the basin as the basis fordeveloping scenarios for managing the allocation of water sustainably. A first in the country.

m Through the sub-catchment forums, water users empowered to participate in IWRM and climatechange adaptation processes through dialogue and decentralized water governance.

m Increased knowledge and information on water resources and vulnerability to climate change throughcomprehensive assessments.

A diverse ecosystem on whichlivelihoods depend

The Pangani river basin covers anarea of 43,650km2 with 95% inTanzania and 5% in Kenya. The riverbegins as a series of small streamsdraining from Mt. Kilimanjaro, MtMeru and the Pare and Usambaramountain ranges and flows into theIndian Ocean. Over three millionpeople derive their livelihoods fromthe Pangani River Basin, primarilyfrom agriculture and fisheries. Itsfertile soils and ample rainfall haveearned it the reputation of being thebreadbasket of Tanzania. Anestimated 55,000 hectares of thebasin is intensely irrigated. The500km long river also serves aseries of hydro-electric powerstations, which, combined,contribute towards 17% ofTanzania’s national electricity needs.

Figure 1. Map of the Pangani River Basin (Source: Future of the Basin Report 2011, Tanzania, IUCN)

2 WANI Case Study – Pangani River Basin

INTRODUCTION

Policies and institutions

In 2002, the Ministry of Water launched a newNational Water Policy which recognized the importantlink between a healthy environment and productivelivelihoods. Water for basic human needs is given thehighest priority for water allocation, followed by waterfor maintenance of ecosystems. Determining waterrequirements for the environment has become apriority for the government and environmental flowassessments were required for Tanzanian rivers inorder to implement the Water Policy.

The Pangani Basin Water Board was established in1991 and works in accordance the WaterResources Management Act No. 11 of 2009 toimplement a comprehensive, integrated and holisticapproach to the management of water resources.

The Board comprises ten members, drawn frompublic institutions and the private sector (includingrepresentatives of catchment water committees,Local Government Associations, Ministry of Water,private sector water users and water relatedsectors). WANI worked in close collaboration withthe Government of Tanzania and the Pangani BasinWater Board which provided a vital entry point intothe water sector at basin level.

Changing flow patterns of the Pangani River

Climate change is evident in the Pangani Basin andflows have been reduced from several hundred toless than 40 m3 per second. As the model managedby the Pangani Basin Water Board indicates,different flow patterns are essential for maintainingthe natural equilibrium of the river. Small floods, for


As a response to these serious issues, the PBWBand WANI convened a stakeholder platform in

2002 to look at options for Integrated WaterResource Management. This type of management“promotes coordinated development andmanagement of water, land and related resources, inorder to maximize the resultant economic and socialwelfare in an equitable manner withoutcompromising the sustainability of vitalecosystems”.1

WANI and partners agreed to implement effectivemonitoring and data collection systems to increaseunderstanding of environmental, economic (see boxbelow) and social implications of different river flowscenarios under expected climatic conditions andincrease capacity to collect and analyze such flowassessment information. This led to the developmentof a comprehensive assessment of environmentalflow requirements to effectively conserve the basin'snatural resources. Simultaneously, WANI and

instance, may encourage fish to migrate along theriver and lay eggs while larger floods spill on tofloodplains, providing rich feeding and nursery areasfor fish. Comparing the natural and present-day flowregimes from the perspective of these different flowpatterns shows how it is changing and how it willcontinue to change in the future. A several ofpressures on water resources in the basin haveexacerbated this situation.

Competition for water resources

There are a variety of water users within the PanganiBasin competing for water resources. As the numberof claims over water increases, so too does thenumber of conflicts. Population growth,deforestation, increasing numbers of livestock andthe expansion of cultivated land, as well as fishing,mining and hydroelectric power activities have led toexcessive pressures on the basin’s water resources.Ecosystems are in decline as a result and, with

1 GWP (2009) Lessons from Integrated Water Resources Management in Practice, Global Water Partnership, Policy briefing 9

aquatic resources supplying up to 25% of householdincome in parts of the basin, it is the poorest whoare most adversely affected. In view of the extremely disparate use of naturalresources of the Basin, along with the multitude ofdifferent interests and hopes of stakeholders, theneed for an integrated approach to its managementcannot be underestimated. In the past, the ‘sectoral’approach to the management created conflictbetween sectors regarding priorities in the basin. Thefuture development of this and other basins inTanzania depends on a successful transition tosustainable water management. As WashingtonMutayoba, former Director of Water Resources in theTanzanian Ministry of Water, says, “In this countrythere is tremendous pressure on our naturalresources,” …“You need to integrate planning byknowing what is available and understandingdemands.”

OPTIONS FOR INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT

partners facilitated negotiations betweenstakeholders and increased community participation.Support was given for legal reviews and multi-stakeholder consultations to be carried out toimprove management planning and implementrational systems of water allocation.

Crucially, WANI did not set out to shape new policyon water management, but instead worked with theGovernment and other partners to testimplementation of the National Water Policy and theNational Water Sector Development Strategy (2005-2015). Working closely with the Government ofTanzania, the focus was on operationalising ambitiousreforms that called for the establishment ofcatchment water forums and prioritization of waterallocation for 1) meeting basic human needs and 2)the needs of ecosystems. “Previous water policy wasdriven purely by the need to supply and deliver,”explains Washington Mutayoba, “Now we are lookingat the bigger picture, climate change and all.”


Box 1. Economic valuation of the Pangani River Basin

A detailed study was conducted in 2003 on the economic value of water resources in the PanganiBasin. The report reviewed water usage in domestic consumption, livestock, irrigated agriculture,environmental goods and services and hydropower production. Detailed surveys were undertakento calculate specific figures of water usage from growing cotton to herding cattle as well as overallhousehold income/expenditure figures to determine the role water plays in livelihoods. The reportconcludes, among many other facts, that the Pangani Basin Water Board will need about 400million Tanzanian shillings annually to improve the management of water resources in the basin.These values presented in the report are preliminary estimates which provide a starting point forunderstanding the economic magnitude involved for the use of water in different areas of the Basin.

The economic project also conducted a feasibility study examining Payment for EnvironmentalServices and proposed a mechanism for this in the Pangani Basin. This was one of the firstinvestigations of the viability of Payment for Environmental Services in Tanzania.

Laying the foundations

In early 2003, WANI supported global learningInitiatives related to water governance, environmentalflows and environmental economics. Panganistakeholder platforms brought people together andprovided a space for discussion and negotiation.The Pangani Basin Situation Analysis (IUCN 2003),Pangani stakeholder platforms and dialogues,preliminary environmental flows and economicsassessments all provided a strong basis for thedevelopment of the larger Pangani River BasinManagement Project. These initial interventions werevital to: forging partnerships and building trust amongpartners; understanding natural resourcemanagement issues at the local level; developingand testing methodologies; considering strategies forscaling-up; and providing opportunity for partners totailor the intervention to their needs and priorities.

Governance structures and IWRM plan in thePangani Basin

Experience gained among the partners in thedialogue forums was the starting point for scaling-upgovernance processes to the sub-catchment level.The partners (PBWO, PAMOJA Trust and IUCN)drafted a Roadmap for the establishment of theKikuletwa sub-Catchment forum. Under theroadmap, a preparatory phase was completedcomprising a water-use audit, policy review, and

institutional mapping. In addition, a series ofconsultation and training workshops with localgovernment and water users raised awarenessabout IWRM and climate change. It was recognizedthat because of the complexity of local watermanagement issues, operationalizing the forum is along term process.

The PBWB coordinated other sectors andstakeholders to lay the ground work for eventuallydeveloping an Integrated Water ResourcesManagement Plan. Stakeholders were able tointeract with the Pangani Basin Water Board andsubmit applications to participate in Pangani Basinwater management.

WANI was instrumental in preparing the necessarygroundwork for developing water management in thePangani Basin through the interventions describedabove. Since 2007, framework has been takenforward by other partners. Governance structuresincluding Water Users Associations (WUA) acrossthe basin in different sub-catchments have beencreated which aim to promote communityparticipation in IWRM planning and implementationprocesses. The project also focused ondevelopment of the overarching KikuletwaCatchment Forum which brought together differentWUAs in the catchment. Similar approaches arebeing undertaken in other catchments within the

TOWARDS SOLUTIONS


Pangani Basin. Lessons learned about the capacitybuilding to develop Water User Associations havebeen synthesized and disseminated to the Ministryof Water and other basins. In addition, groundwaterassessments have been undertaken. All of thesemanagement components have been integrated intodrafting the IWRM plan and further steps todevelopment and implement actions.

A different approach: providing spaces forstakeholder dialogue through small-scaleinfrastructure development

As a result of the early dialogues in the pilot phase,the larger initiative included some small-scaleinfrastructure developments to address the waterconflicts. Perhaps one of the most importantcontributions was recognizing that tohave a significant and sustainableimpact on the large number of water-related conflicts in Pangani Basin, adifferent approach was needed forscaling up the intervention. Providingthe space for continued dialoguebetween the different stakeholders inthe basin relating to watermanagement issues, and futureclimatic vulnerability and future climaticrisk was an essential ingredient forsuccess.

Environmental flows and climatechange

The Pangani Basin Flow Assessment,(2005-2011), brought together a coreteam of Tanzanian specialists in arange of disciplines related to river –biophysical, social, economics, watermanagement and policy making – and aninternational team of flow-assessment specialistsfrom South Africa. As the first assessment of its kindin the area, the study used cutting edgemethodologies to gather specific information onhydrology and the economic, social and ecologicalimpacts of changes in river flow regimes. A series of17 reports have been produced that have providedinformation into the flow assessment.

Building on this information, stakeholders havegained an understanding of social, economic andenvironmental trade-offs for different waterallocations through the development of a number ofscenarios. The technical outputs of the Pangani FlowAssessment such as long-term current-dayhydrological data, baseline data on the condition of

rivers, wetlands and the estuary, provided invaluabledata. This has been formulated into scenarios,including climate change affects, to assess a widerange of future development pathways, to informpossible water-resource planning decisions in thebasin.

Contributing to global networks

As a result of experience in the Pangani, a globalEnvironmental Flows Network was established(www.eflownet.org) to facilitate awareness raising,capacity building and implementation ofenvironmental flows within East and Southern Africaand worldwide. The Network's overall aim is to allowpeople to access, share and discuss information,knowledge, experiences and case studies related toenvironmental flows. The environmental flows

approach and tools demonstrated in the PanganiBasin has global resonance, not just as a theoretic,hydrological set of measurements, but as a pivotalelement in developing holistic water managementsolutions.

As a result of collaboration between the water andthe climate change specialists, a study by theUniversity of Cape Town (Tadross and Wolski, 2010)was completed which developed a climate changemodel for the Pangani Basin to increaseunderstanding of climate change impacts. The reportconcluded that anticipated climate change impactswill have consequences on water resources in theBasin including increased evaporation, increased

Climate change vulnerability assessment in Mbuguni Village


socio-economic survey and the river and estuaryhealth assessments. Additional technical informationon macroeconomics, hydroelectric power modeling,hydraulic modeling, fisheries, fish and invertebrate lifehistories and vegetation was commissioned byproject partners in November 2006 to support theprocess through separate consultancies. The reportis being used to raise awareness among decision-makers on the condition of the Pangani RiverSystem. Additionally, an Environmental FlowWorkshop was held in Morogoro, Tanzania whichincluded other individuals and organizationsinterested or actively involved in flow assessments toexchange information and create a learningenvironment. “The environment is supposed tosustain people. Our responsibility is to raiseawareness. We will do this by scenario proposing.Show it to them and let them understand,” explainsPangani Basin Water Officer Hamza Sadiki.

Lesson learned on Environmental Flowassessments and planning for the future

A review was undertaken of the PanganiEnvironmental Flow Assessment along withassessments in other regions of Tanzania andKenya. This provided a critical analysis ofenvironmental water requirement studies andassessment that have been carried out in Tanzaniaincluding Pangani, Wami-Ruvu, Mara and Ruaha.Lessons learned have been disseminated tostakeholders, including the Ministry of Water. In2010, a series of recommendations on implementingenvironmental flows were made.

Scenarios using hydrological data sets for 2025 (seeTable 1) have recently been made available in theFuture of the Basin Report, which aim to determinehow different water allocations will impact economicdevelopment, environmental health and social well-

snow melt on Mt. Kilimanjaro (leading to short-termincrease in water resources), increase in bush fires,decreased rainfall, decreased river flows, decreasedgroundwater recharge, a lowered groundwater tableand drying of wetlands. With this information,management scenarios and decisions can beformulated to try and combat the effects that thesechanges will have in the basin and the impacts onpeople and livelihoods.

Leadership and learning: informing andeducating stakeholders

Stakeholders participated in a number of events toexchange experiences and raise awareness aboutthe results of the assessments and actions. Forexample, during the assessment of environmentalflow requirements, the State of the Basin Report waslaunched in Moshi by the Permanent Secretary forthe Ministry of Water summarizing the findings of the

Sampling during the environmental flows assessment study at the estuary, Pangani Town

Table 1. Gains and losses for different sectors and scenarios per year in the Pangani River Basin in TZSmillions per year (US dollar 1 = 1344.28 from 2009) Source: Adapted from PBWO/IUCN (2009)

Present Day Max Max Optimize High Additional(PD) Agriculture HEP PD+HEP Environment Storage and

Optimize PD

Hydroelectric Power (HEP) 2,380,642 -606,842 547,991 552,606 -4,037 25,315

Agriculture 202,391 15,540 -38,871 -69,370 -62,798 -51,365

Natural Resources 34,809 175 -516 -157 661 605

Ecosystems Services 327 -91 183 388 322 184

Total 2,618,170 -591,218 508,788 483,417 -65,852 -25,262

% change -22.58 19.43 18.46 -2.52 -0.96


WHAT HAS CHANGED?

With over-exploitation of water resources andconflicts arising due to a diminishing river flow,

the Pangani River Basin was facing an uncertainfuture. However, as a result of trying and adapting

interventions on the ground in the basin, somesolutions and ways forward have been developed.These should help water managers and basinstakeholders to be able to cope better with water

being in the basin, taking into account the changingclimate. The negative numbers in Table 1 show thesectoral losses in financial terms on the Basin andthe positive numbers show the sectoral gainsfinancially depending on which scenario is followed.‘Natural resources’ refers to the provisioning ofservices such as fish and timber. ‘Ecosystemservices’ refers to regulatory services such as watertreatment by wetlands and fish nurseries in estuaries.There are tradeoffs involved in every scenario. Theoverall picture in Figure 3 shows that there is no onescenario that is financially beneficial in terms of allthree criteria (economic, social and ecological).Economic outputs were generally the most sensitive,with differences between scenarios frequently beinggreater than 20%. Social wellbeing within the basinchanges negatively under most scenarios, but byrelatively small percentage.

Following the technical work already completed inthis project, focus now switches to stakeholders andthe government. This information gives further insightinto how stakeholders can make social, economicand environmental trade-offs for different waterallocations under possible future climate conditions.Increasing knowledge and information aboutpossible future scenarios has also brought the waterand climate change sectors closer together. If ascenario could be agreed on, then the nextsequence of technical work could begin. This wouldbe to help lay out a basin water management plan,which would guide future decisions on waterallocations, and a monitoring programme, whichwould check if the environmental flows are beingmaintained in the river, and the agreed desired riverstate is being achieved.

Figure 2. Pangani River Basin before and after

BEFORE

Over-exploitation of water resources

Ineffective management

Limited knowledge about the basin’secosystem

Conflict

AFTER

Participatory governance –IWRM Plan drafted

Increased institutional capacity atbasin level

Increased knowledge about waterresources

Empowered water users

Conflict resolution

Platforms for stakeholder dialogue


scarcity and climatic variability and to manage futurechanges in the basin adaptively. Through the sub-catchment forums, water users have beenempowered to participate in IWRM and climatechange adaptation processes through dialogue anddecentralized water governance.

There is now an increased understanding ofenvironmental, economic and social implications ofdifferent river flow scenarios under expected climaticconditions and increased capacity to collect andanalyze such information. The water sector’svulnerability to climate change is now betterunderstood and pilot actions have generatedlessons in adaptation. “With these kinds of realities,we have to work together,” says Chairman YusuphM. Yusuph, a rice, maize and ginger farmer in thelowlands. These activities have simultaneously builtup the capacity of country institutions throughtraining and workshops and disseminatedknowledge about the basin among water users.

Institutional and information gaps between the basinand national level processes have now been bridgedthrough studies, exchange of knowledge andcollaboration between climate change and watersectors. The Pangani Basin Water Board now hasthe information needed to manage the basin in wayswhich support nature as well as people and theirlivelihoods.

The future

With WANI and donor interventions finally havingcome to an end in 2011, the focus is now on thePangani River Basin stakeholders and thegovernment of Tanzania to continue working towardsa future where water resources are used sustainably,maintaining both ecosystems health and people’slivelihood security. Stakeholders are now gainingunderstanding of social, economic andenvironmental trade-offs for different waterallocations through the development of a number ofscenarios. The PBWB and the Tanzanian team ofspecialists have the tools and skills to help thebasin’s stakeholders further explore outlinedscenarios, or to investigate new ones, as they seekthe optimum trade-off between development andresource protection for this basin. The Pangani Basinhas strong social and governance structures thatcan help identify this desired trade-off point and drivethe process of setting up a basin-wide water-allocation plan.

The Pangani River Basin Management project wasalso a catalyst for the creation of the Wami Ruvuproject which is focusing on building watergovernance capacity to secure the future of theRuvu River in the Wami Ruvu Basin. The resultsfrom Pangani and the lessons learned havesupported the roll-out of the Wami Ruvu project andactivities at the national level as well as watergovernance projects in Uganda and Kenya andwider across the Western Indian Ocean Regionthrough projects such as Wio-Lab.

Intensive rice cultivation in the Pangani Basin

Donor support

The initial pilot project was supported by the Water and Nature Initiative – funded through theGovernment of the Netherlands (DGIS), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) andthe World Water Council. The Pangani Basin Water Board implemented the Pangani River BasinManagement Project with technical assistance from the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) and the local NGO PAMOJA. The project wasfinancially supported by the IUCN Water & Nature Initiative (WANI), the Government of Tanzania, theEuropean Commission through a grant from EU-ACP Water Facility, and the Global Environment Facilitythrough UNDP.

Additional components complementing the project are being supported by the Climate Change andDevelopment Project, a Pan-African project funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland andimplemented by IUCN and the Global Water Initiative (GWI), which is a partnership in three regions and13 countries funded by the Howard G. Buffet Foundation.

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

WORLD HEADQUARTERSRue Mauverney 281196 Gland, [email protected] +4122 999 0000Fax +41 22 999 0002www.iucn.org/waterwww.waterandnature.org

Design: Tim Davis, DJEnvironmental, UKPrint: GPS Printing, FrancePhoto credits: Cover IUCN/ Taco Anema, all othersIUCN/Onesmo Zakaria

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