Support to the Cubango-Okavango River Basin Strategic Action Programme (SAP) Implementation

The Cubango-Okavango River Basin remains one of the least human impacted river basins on the African continent. It is situated in remote areas far from the basin countries' capital cities and main centers of economic activities. The basin supports predominantly rural communities, whose livelihoods are dependent on natural resources, subsistence rain-fed agriculture and flood-recession agriculture. As a result, the people of the basin are in general poorer, less healthy, and less well educated than national averages in their respective countries, underscoring the need for economic development in the basin. At the same time, in its present near-pristine status, the river provides significant ecosystem benefits and will continue to do so if managed appropriately. However, pressures are now building to develop the basin's resources to increase incomes and alleviate poverty in the basin population. In response to this, UNDP with finance from GEF supported the three countries of Angola, Botswana and Namibia which share the resources of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin to conduct the joint assessment of the Basin, including the future water resources development analysis, the outcome was the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA). Further  supported them to agree on a set of transboundary priorities for the sustainable development and management of the basin. After some negotiations, the set of transboundary priorities were approved by Cabinet in each of the basin states, and jointly endorsed by the Ministers of Water from the three countries as the Strategic Action Programme (SAP).

This project is therefore supporting the implementation of the SAP for the Cubango-Okavango River Basin. The objective of the project is to strengthen the joint management and cooperative decision-making capacity of the Cubango-Okavango River basin states on the optimal utilization of natural resources in the basin, with the aim to support the socio-economic development of the basin communities while sustaining the health of the basin ecosystems. The project has three components:

Component 1: Basin Development Management Framework strengthening.

Component 2: Environmentally Conscious Livelihoods and Socio-Economic Development Demonstration Projects.

Component 3: Integrated Water Resource Management.

The project is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)  and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with a total allocated resource of USD 6.1 Million for 4.5 years of the implementation period (November 2017 - March 2022).