Botswana has ambitious plans for a commercial agriculture project that will draw nearly half a billion cubic metres of water per year from the Chobe River.

 

 Siphosethu Stuurman takes a closer look at reported discord over Chobe River irrigation scheme. [4:35m]: Play Now | Download (23)

The four countries that are party to the ZIZABONA electricity interconnection project – Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia – are set to move the project forward.

A new comic book will bring results of a multi-year study of the Cubango-Okavango river system to an unusual audience – youth between 10 and 17.

‘“It is our responsibility as RBOs to avoid conflict, uncertainty and mistrust because the people might just stop trusting the Commissions.’

The Southern Africa region has made great strides in monitoring and responding to seasonal flooding, thanks in large measure to the growing strength of transboundary institutions.

OKACOM executive secretary Eben Chonguiça says joint fact-finding has helped Angola, Botswana and Namibia to build a basis of trust so that balanced choices over development in the Okavango River basin can proceed.

 

 Fransiska Thikerete interviews EBEN CHONGUICA, executive secretary of OKACOM [4:12m]: Play Now | Download (73)

Among the more than a hundred people present at the Multi-Stakeholder Water Dialogue, there was a curious absence: ordinary citizens, such as the smallholder farmers whose lives and livelihoods participants heard will be most immediately affected by climate change were nowhere to be seen.

 

 Climate change could drive women's empowerment, says Stephanie Midgley.: Play Now | Download (76)

Floods are usually viewed as a threat, but a cyclical increase in the Okavango’s flooding has increased biodiversity and tourism in the area.

Despite early warnings about higher-than-usual flooding of the Okavango Delta in 2010, homes, fields, latrines and boreholes in the delta were flooded.

 

 OKACOM executive secretary Eben Chonguiça assesses progress towards coordinated development in the basin.: Play Now | Download (73)

LIMCOM has found that intensive use of water [mainly by South African industries] might be one of the factors influencing a decline in water levels downstream.