This draft document was prepared by the Secretariat as a basis for discussion by the Drafting Committee to be established by the Conference.
Draft Declaration of the Ministerial Conference on Water for Agriculture and Energy in Africa: The Challenges of Climate Change
WE, the Ministers and Heads of the African States Delegations, meeting at the Conference on “Water for Agriculture and Energy in Africa: the Challenges of Climate Change” in Sirte, Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, from 15 to 17 December 2008;
Reaffirming our commitment to the principles and objectives, stipulated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and its programme NEPAD, aimed at promoting cooperation and integration between our countries in all fields with a view to raising the living standards of our peoples and the well being of our future generations;
Reaffirming our commitment to the African Water Vision 2025 and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, specifically those related to water and to the eradication of poverty and hunger;
Recalling the Maputo declaration of 2003 on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa; and the Sirte declaration of 2004 on the challenges of implementing integrated and sustainable development on agriculture and water in Africa;
Recalling the African Union Declaration on Climate Change and Development in Africa of 2007;
Recalling the 2008 Ministerial Declaration and outcomes of the first Africa Water Week convened by the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW) and hosted by the African Development Bank in Tunis;
Recalling the Paris Declaration of 2005 on Aid Effectiveness;
Recalling the 2008 Declaration of the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy;
Recalling the 2008 11th African Union Summit on “Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation”;
Recognizing that water is, and will remain a key resource to economic, social and environmental development as well as to hunger and poverty reduction of Africa, and that water and sanitation are prerequisites for the development of Africa’s human capital;
Recognizing the vulnerability of African economies and agricultural production systems to climate variability and climate change;
Concerned by the progressive degradation of the continent’s agricultural productivity, increased impact of food import on commercial trade balance, vulnerability to food price shocks and low response capacities;
Concerned by the level of food insecurity and the implications of high and volatile food prices on the food security situation of the poor in Africa and anxious to reverse this unacceptable situation;
Aware that the African agriculture has been under-funded for several decades and that water control projects for agriculture and energy have not been sufficiently developed;
Aware that accelerated investments in support to agricultural water development are needed to ensure agricultural growth, hunger and poverty reduction, foster economic development, and increase rural and urban employment;
Aware that enhanced agricultural productivity depends not only on improved water management both in rain-fed and irrigated agriculture, but also on the judicious application of other farm inputs, availability of services, access to markets and fair and stable prices for farm products;
Noting the progress made in the establishment of the African Union and its programme NEPAD, the on-going process of Africa’s economic integration and the need for building mechanisms of cooperation and partnership in the agriculture and energy sectors in the struggle to disentangle the Continent from the scourge of under-development and continued marginalization in a global world economy;
Acknowledging the continuous support of the regional and international partners to the water, agriculture and energy sectors in Africa, and urging development partners to engage in supporting agricultural water development and use in Africa, as well as the initiatives of bilateral and multilateral cooperating partners;
Recognising that further efforts need to be made to develop an enabling environment conducive to accelerated investments in the water sector;
Determined to prioritize implementation of integrated water, agriculture and energy programmes to enhance sustainable development in Africa;
We Commit Ourselves To:
1.Adopt sound policies and associated institutional reforms in support to water development at the national, regional and continental levels in order to fully exploit the potentialities of both the agriculture and energy sectors;
2. Support NEPAD in accelerating the implementation of pillar I of its Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) and carry out the new Agriculture Water Partnership to expedite the attainment of CAADP objectives toward the expansion of the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control;
3. Accelerate the fulfillment of our commitment made in Maputo in 2003 on the allocation of 10% of our national budgets to boost agricultural production;
4.Adopt a comprehensive policy towards enhanced agricultural productivity that takes into account water, farm inputs, technical capacity, tenure, markets and a fair and conducive institutional environment in support to smallholders;
5. Call upon AMCOW to promote a multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral and inclusive approach in the preparation of policies and plans related to water resource management in the continent;
6.Adopt a pragmatic, demand-driven and stepwise framework for investment in water development in support to agriculture and energy which considers small scale water control, improvement of existing water infrastructure and the development of large river basins;
7. Call on donors and development partners to support Africa in scaling up sustainable water management in support to agriculture and energy;
8. Call on technical development partners and institutions, including FAO, the African Development Bank, and others to strengthen project preparation in order to accelerate investment in water for agriculture and energy;
9. Strengthen the role of the African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank as well as the regional development banks in ensuring the financing of, inter alia, development projects in the field of water for agriculture and energy;
10. Request AMCOW, with the support of UN-Water Africa, to develop clear guidelines on the implementation on inter-basin water projects;
11. Support the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Regional Economic Organizations in their effort to enhance clean energy production in the continent, particularly in promoting the exploitation of the vast hydropower potential and in strengthening regional Power Pools;
12. Encourage bilateral and regional agreements on shared water resources and strengthen existing river and lake water basins organizations to promote sustainable water resources development and management through support to infrastructure projects, including, when needed, the construction of dams, canals and hydropower stations, sinking of wells and provision of irrigation equipment, to the benefit of the continent, in accordance with international law, including the agreements concluded among riparian States;
13. Encourage accelerated integration of the Continent’s power network, the development of water falls to provide electric power, and of small hydropower generation to speed up rural electrification;
14. Develop a [common and] coherent policy framework for public-private cooperation that will attract increased private capital into the agriculture, water and energy sectors;
15. Call upon the African Regional Economic Organizations to develop and strengthen appropriate regional instruments on integrated water resources management, following the model of ECOWAS’ Water Resources Coordination Centre, and promote the strengthening of regional Centres of Excellence and networks for agriculture, hydropower generation, water management, climate change, desertification, drought, floods and environmental management;
16. Establish, with the support of FAO, an information network in the field of agricultural production for food security and the trading of commodities between markets and countries;
17. Undertake massive national and regional capacity development efforts as an integral component of each national investment plan which should focus on the optimization of water resources use in support to enhanced food and energy security and poverty alleviation while underpinning the need to protect the environment;
18. Foster and strengthen cooperation between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, Regional Climate Centres, Regional Economic Organizations, the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development and other institutions on matters of climate variability and climate change;
19. Enhance Early Warning Systems at regional level and their establishment where they do not exist as well as their coordination at continental level in order to avert the negative impact of drought, desertification, floods, natural disasters and pests;
20. Foster research and development in renewable energy and agriculture to increase the continent’s resilience and adaptation to climate change;
21. Integrate climate change and climate change adaptation strategies under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change into national and regional development policies, programmes and activities, ensuring a synergistic implementation of national adaptation programmes and national, subregional and regional action programmes under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
Courtesy, FAO.
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