International Conference on Groundwater in Ethiopia

Statement

by Dr. Josué Dioné
Director, Sustainable Development Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Your Excellency Ato Shiferaw Jarso, Minister of Water resources of Ethiopia
Honourable State Ministers of Finance and Economic Development and Mines and Vice-Minister of Water Resources
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour, on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Dr. K.Y Amoako, to welcome you to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

This Conference follows shortly the First Pan African Implementation and partnership Conference on Water and focuses on Ethiopia, our Host Country.

On behalf of the Executive Secretary of ECA and the UN Water/Africa that I have the honour to chair, I herewith pledge the full support of the UN system to water resources development in Ethiopia.

Without water there can be no life. And, although water comes in different forms, for Ethiopia and Africa, groundwater is the most important source. It is also the least recognized form of water since it is not visible and requires in many cases extra energy to extract and use.

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is easy for all of us to associate the origins of this Conference with the many difficulties encountered during the last drought in Ethiopia.

Major droughts are a cyclical phenomenon in the Northern and Southern thirds of Africa. Their frequency of occurrence in the last half century seems to be accelerating, and their impact on millions of people has been devastating.

Vulnerability to food insecurity in Africa is increasingly associated with variability and unreliability of water availability for food and agricultural production and domestic use. Only 2-3% of the abundant surface and ground water resources of the continent are used to meet the different needs. Although agriculture is the largest user of water, only a negligible fraction of total cultivated land is under sustainable water control.

This happens in the face of recurrent droughts that frequently wipe out food harvests, which continue to depend essentially on the vagaries of rainfalls. And along with the food harvests goes also livestock and cash crop production, which are equally tributary to the hardships imposed by uncontrolled water regimes.

Yet, our responses to the increasing frequency of droughts have so far been rather ad hoc in nature. The need for a systematic integration of all aspects of the phenomenon in overall planning for sustainable economic and social development is strongly called for.

Not much progress towards long-term and reliable agricultural development, food security and poverty reduction can be achieved until we reach a minimum level of water resources development and management.

Indeed, it is common observation that all sectors of the society are anxious about a drought when it occurs and are prepared to pay whatever price necessary to avoid its recurrence. However, this resolve always seems to dissolve with the jubilation over the first drought breaking rains.

With this observation in mind we, at ECA, believe that a good overall strategic principle for African Governments and peoples can be expressed in the following simple statement:

" When in the midst of a drought, prepare for the next floods and as the floods wreak their havoc do not forget to prepare for the coming drought".

It is in this context that this Conference was conceived: To prepare Ethiopia to meet the challenges of future droughts through well planned and cost effective development and management of groundwater resources throughout the country.

Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Well-developed plans that are not executed in a time bound fashion are not worth the paper they are written on.

In the Water sector in Africa, a need for immediate action has been generally acknowledged by all stakeholders, from Heads of State at the African Union Extraordinary Summit on Agriculture and Water in Sirte, Libya, to Ministers and the Civil Society at the PANAFCON in Addis Ababa.

It is our fervent wish that the focus of the proceedings at this Conference would be on how to translate existing plans into action at the grass-roots level. From Mekele to Moyale and from Gondar to Dire Dawa, most people and livestock depend on groundwater. Hence, the expectations are very high.

In concluding, allow me to reiterate our pledging of the support of ECA for the full success of this Conference.

Thank You.