2. Broadening the lens – regional perspective on water, food and energy integration in SADC
Barbara Schreiner
Stockholm September 2014

3. Outline
A perspective on regional water-energy integration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Opportunities, constraints and uncertainties

4. SADC water…

5. …energy
Only 5% of rural areas in the region have access to electricity;
24 % of SADC’s residents have access to electricity (36% in Eastern Africa, 44 % in Western Africa);
Electricity shortage in region since 2007
Projects to address the shortage lag behind deadline due to lack of funding and capacity

6. …agriculture and food
Agriculture contributes 4-27% of GDP in SADC countries
70% of population depends on agriculture for food, income, employment
Mainly rain-fed agriculture
Largely small-scale or subsistence
Vulnerable to drought/low rainfall
High level of chronic food insecurity
14 million people in 2013 (increase from 2012)

7. Institutional context - water
Water: Revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses
All SADC states have ratified
Overarching objective (Article 2): “foster closer cooperation for judicious, sustainable and coordinated management, protection and utilization of shared watercourses, and advance SADC’s agenda of regional integration and poverty alleviation
Most significant shared river basins have basin level agreements in place under the Protocol
Regional Strategic Action Plan
Series of activities, but no regional water use planning
Doesn’t deal with regional rather than basin level water sharing
E.g. water from Zambezi or Congo to South Africa

8. Institutional context - energy
Southern African Power Pool
Established through intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding in August 1995
Guided by SADC Protocol on Energy (1996)
Defines guidelines for cooperation including
development and updating of regional electricity masterplan,
development and utilisation of electricity in environmentally sound manner, and
emphasising need for universal access to affordable and quality services.
SAPP Mandate:
enhance regional cooperation in power development and trade
provide non-binding regional masterplans to guide electricity generation and transmission infrastructure delivery
countries retain right to develop and prosecute their own national plans.

9. Institutional context - agriculture
CAADP - agricultural programme of NEPAD/African Union
Established by AU assembly in 2003
Goal: to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty through agriculture
Formulation of national and regional investment plans is one of most important activities to implement CAADP
36 out of 54 countries in Africa have signed CAADP compacts
Common framework for stimulating and guiding national, regional and continental initiatives on enhanced agriculture productivity and food security which each region and country can develop and implement as preferred.
SADC Regional Agricultural Policy and regional CAADP investment Plan
acknowledges that water use and management, in particular at regional level, require an integrated approach that takes into account water, energy and land issues
Enter Presentation Title

10. Regional Frameworks
Energy – Regional Masterplan
Water: RSAP and Regional Infrastructure Master Plan
Agriculture: Regional Agricultural Policy

11. Regional perspectives
Regionalised power
Shared river basins
Enter Presentation Title

12. Opportunities - energy
Overall hydropower potential in SADC estimated at around 1,080 terawatt hours per year (TWh/year)
Capacity currently utilised is just under 31 TWh/year
Large natural gas reserves

13. Opportunities - agriculture
Diversity of crops across region
Abundance of arable land
Fisheries and forestry resources
Generally favourable climate for agriculture
Large market for produce (277 million people in 2010)
16% of potential 20 million hectares of irrigable land is used

14. Current situation - energy
SAPP masterplans have demonstrated considerable financial savings and other benefits of regional cooperation
YET: countries have continued to develop national plans for achieving electricity self-sufficiency;
Electricity trading in SAPP is mainly bilateral contracts
2012/ bilateral contracts but only 15 of these were active due to generation and transmission constraints
Lack of continued investment in infrastructure by member states alongside rapid economic growth
Challenges in bilateral contract implementation
Zambia – force majeure as reason to not meet electricity supply agreement Zimbabwe
Seen as result of inadequate investment and management rather than natural causes
Profoundly negative impact on the integration of the region through electricity.
Enter Presentation Title

15. Current situation - water
Basin level agreements and organisations in place in most transboundary basins in SADC
Four modalities of transboundary infrastructure projects for water and/or energy
national projects with transboundary impacts;
joint projects between states;
infrastructure developed in one or more countries for regional benefit; or
regional benefits arising from a regional decision-making process
YET:
Little regional infrastructure being developed
Few (if any) truly regional water projects planned
There is a regional infrastructure master plan – consisting largely of national infrastructure projects, not a regional view of water infrastructure opportunities

16. Current situation - agriculture
SADC national and regional agricultural planning and investment takes place without adequate consultation of the water sector
Despite CAADP offering good ideas at the broad continental level these have not translated into better coordination of relevant stakeholders for agriculture and water management for in SADC
Low MS commitment w.r.t regional integration
Sufficiency of water availability

17. National vs regional
Regional energy masterplan based on minimising financial cost
Dependent on South African energy choices (regional hydropower rather than national nuclear)
South African IRP was based on multi-criteria approach
minimise carbon emissions,
maximise local employment creation, economic and social benefits,
mitigate uncertainties associated with renewable energy technologies,
minimise water usage.
Support for regional development considered in IRP but weighting less than other factors
Different results
National plans developed without considering regional opportunities
= sub-optimal developments
Sovereign security advantages often override technical and economic considerations at regional level

18. Climate change – the key uncertainty
Temperature increases above global average
Increases in climate variability
Potential impacts on hydropower
Downscaling under different GCMs doesn’t always reveal the same response
Rainfall: runoff/recharge response unclear

19. Regional integration in SADC
Major opportunities
Framework of regional integration
Policy and institutional frameworks support regional approach
Opportunities based on harnessing different resource endowments and water-food-energy needs of countries
Opportunities for synergy between energy and agricultural sectors
Constraints:
Regional perspective is challenging within one sector, let alone across sectors
Requires multi-sector planning approaches and multi-criteria approach to selection of project options
Alignment of regional and national approaches
Incorporation of sovereign food, electricity and water security national interests
Demonstration of national benefits of integration, and addressing legitimate national security and political concerns
Practical implementation capacity – e.g. planning, project preparation, project implementation