Building Drought Resilience in the South of Angola through the Use of Geospatial Information and Nature-based Infrastructure
Basic Information
Grant ID: K-137
Region: Africa
Country: Angola
Approval Year: 2019
Grant Year: Year 7
Amount Approved by Donor: $500000.00
Main Product Line: ASA
Sector: Water
Grant start/completion: March 2, 2020~August 31, 2021
Grant Status: Active
TTLs: Aleix Serrat Capdevila (Senior Water Resources Management Specialist)
Grant Activities
Project Summary:
The objective of this grant is to help the Government of Angola (GoA) and the World Bank develop a program of well targeted interventions to enhance water security and drought resilience. Multi-year drought in South Angola is causing significant difficulties that, depending on the year, affect over 76% of the local population. Some areas in the region recorded the driest season in 35 years. Among the most pressing problems are malnutrition, family abandonment, deepened lack of resources, deforestation, and increased risk of local conflicts. The economic impacts of those setbacks for all sectors are estimated at over US $749 million, with the agriculture-livestock-fisheries sector being the worst affected. This World Bank KGGTF grant will help to get a better understanding of the spatial patterns of surface and groundwater supply and use. It will facilitate the involvement of the communities in the monitoring, management and maintenance of the water sources. It will also help to identify sites with potential for the implementation of enhanced shallow groundwater recharge in wadis or low-lying areas. The activities funded by this grant will result in more resilient communities in the face of climate variability and drought, and an increase in nature-based infrastructure solutions at the community level. This grant will also help with enhanced regional maintenance and repair capabilities by improving information flow, boosting competitiveness, and focusing on the private sector. This activity will also provide the Government of Angola with an opportunity to improve coordination of interventions from different donors and maximize the efficiency of development aid.
List of Activities:
- Survey and mapping of water points and their functionality
- Well Inventory
- Spatial Analysis of all the collected data
- Development of an open Map Viewer in the internet
- Prioritizing and targeting Nature Based Infrastructure interventions (community or sub-watershed level)
- Assessment of propitious sites where water resources can be mobilized with nature-based interventions
- Field assessment and verification of specific sites where to build nature-based infrastructure
- Building resilience through community-based management of water points
- Building community awareness and water committees
- Building regional capacity
- Management of cattle pastures and fodder supply
- Capacity and knowledge exchange
Outcomes:
Output 1:
- 1.1 Development of a well and water points inventory database
- 1.2 Report with conclusions and recommendations from the analysis.
- 1.3 Functional map Viewer online
Output 2:
- 2.1 Assessment of potential sites across the region.
- 2.2 Strategic prioritization of sites and characterization of adapted water resources interventions
Output 3:
- Establishment and strengthening of community level water committees.
- Established mechanisms and links across actors to facilitate information flows, incentives, repairs and spare parts availability
Output 4:
- Report on regional understanding of livestock dynamics and movement in the region, including the pressures distribution across water points and pastures in the region, with recommendations for management at the community level and potential interventions regarding pastures and needs
- Report with mapping of small-scale agricultural areas and their relationship with local food security dynamics
Output 5:
- Active collaborations with local institutions
- Collaborations established between local academic institutions with foreign universities and research centers, including joint research, and research exchanges
- Training program and workshops for professional well drilling and construction companies (sand dams and aquifer recharge) to maximize efficiency and best practices in their work
- Increased exposure and presence in conferences, publication of knowledge briefs and guidance notes, as well as other dissemination activities.
Outcomes:
- Improved efficiency: It is difficult to “shift consumer behaviors” when there are no alternatives to water supply. The increases in efficiency will be at the national level, shifting from a reactive mode to drought emergencies, to a proactive preparedness to avoid the impacts and high costs.
- Addressing the structural causes of drought vulnerability in a proactive mode, instead of putting out fires once the drought hits.
- Reduction in loss of cattle and livestock and crop failures, and avoidance of these very high costs of drought impacts.
- Reduction in malnutrition cases, home ruptures, drought induced gender violence, and male exodus to look for other opportunities
- Reduction in high government costs of emergency reaction when the drought settles inn.
- Avoidance of water trucking to supply water to rural populations for survival (high energy/carbon footprint, not sustainable)
- Nature based solutions use soil and ground storage of natural water from wet periods to provide for drought periods.
- Working with nature instead of against nature.
- Greater resilience: This program is the perfect example of a non-regrets approach to resilience for climate variability, through the increase in buffers of many types: water storage, redundancy in options and processes, local and regional capacity enhancements and connectivity of actors and information flows.
- Working with nature-based solutions to multiply storage options in the soil and the groundwater: the water stored underground is protected from evaporation and from contamination.
- Working with nature-based solution enhances natural processes (water and soil storage, recharge) in a sustainable way and with limited maintenance, ensuring access to water and making rural communities more resilient.
- Community awareness and organization to know and own their water source and water points is key for self-reliance and adaptation
- Regional capacity for works, repairs and spare parts is key for maintenance and higher capacity to react and adapt
- Interconnectivity of actors and information flows are very important for communication to lead to preparation, prevention, action and the solving of problems when they appear.
- Focusing on the water resource, the pastures and fodder supply, and small-scale agriculture where possible this program takes into account the key dimensions of drought impacts to make a socio-ecological system more resilient.
- The creation of buffers and safety margins is a foundation of drought resilience: buffers and redundancies for water storage, pastures, fodder, community organization, regional capacity, interconnections, and increased local knowledge in local institutions.
- Increased competitiveness: The focus on the private sector in developing a regional system of repair and maintenance actors, and spare parts, with community organization (including financial, to pay for repairs), and the trainings and workshops for local drilling and construction companies, are geared towards the creation of a healthy system of actors with incentives to make the system work.
- Creation of a regional networks of spare parts availability and distribution, as well as repairs and maintenance is geared towards small and perhaps medium entrepreneurs.
- The trainings for well drilling and construction companies for sand dam and managed aquifer recharge works are aiming for a more qualified private sector, better capacity and awareness of green solutions.
- A resilient South of Angola, with a productive livestock and small-scale agriculture industry will be the food-secure and stable economic engine of the south and will also attract more tourism than a poor and suffering drought-stricken region.
Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:
- The Ministry of Environment (Korean Water Resources Policy Bureau, Kiyoung Park, Senior Water Security Specialist)
- Angolan Partners such as Social Support Fund (undo de Apoio Social, FAS) and Civil Protection and Fireman, and Development Workshop (Angola).
- Instituto Superior Politécnico de Tundavala (Huila Province, Angola) and Universidad Agostinho Neto (Luanda, Angola)
- Agence Francaise de Developpement’s SREP Project (Smal-holders Resilience Enhancement Program