UNEP - Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC)

The high rates of population growth in the African continent and the subsequent increased demand from the agricultural and domestic sectors for freshwater resources have increased the pressure on the resources. Water contamination is increasing across the continent, due to unsustainable use and extraction of freshwater, pollution from both source and non-source points (such as agriculture, household wastewater discharge, mining and sanitation), population pressures, and urbanization. As a consequence, concentrations of waste frequently exceed the ability of rivers to assimilate them, and water-borne and water-based diseases have become widespread. The vast majority of Africa's population continues to rely on unsafe water sources, which themselves are exposed to increasing contamination and pollution as a result of the continent's prevailing inadequate and inefficient water management policies.

In light of growing concern for the distress in the state of fresh water resources, African governments have become increasingly under pressure to institute new and innovative policies and strategies to improve management of freshwater resources. In particular, the negative impacts of unsustainable water use on human population, ecosystems and their dependent species have created a growing movement toward a greening of water management and law. As indicated by the UN Water Africa report titled Africa Water Vision 2025, water laws and regulations need to be revised to give more attention to issues of water quality management in order to minimize the effects of pollution of water resources on people and the natural environment. Fundamentally, the goal is to find a balance between water for human and economics-based demands and water for maintaining ecosystem integrity and environment sustainability. In the context of water management and allocation laws and policies, this balance entails the reconciling of the seemingly disparate goals of socio-economic development and environmental protection and conservation. In other words, it is a “greening” process which aims at integrating environmental considerations within national water related laws so that the water needs of the environment are be taken into account alongside the needs for consumption, sanitation, agriculture and industry in the reading and implementation of those laws.

Many nations in Africa and around the world are already finding ways to integrate environmental protection values into water management and allocation laws and policies. Among others, those mechanisms include environmental criteria for water permit and licenses, environmental impact assessments requirements, minimum environmental flows criteria for rivers prioritization of water allocations for environmental purposes, water trust mechanisms for transferring water rights to environmental purposes, environmentally-sensitive trading systems for water rights, ecosystem services payment schemes, groundwater exploitation controls to ensure the viability of dependant ecosystem, and protected areas for water-related purposes.

Against this background, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in cooperation with the Government of Uganda, is organizing an international conference on the topic: The Greening of Water Law in Africa: Managing Freshwater Resources for People and the Environment. The conference is scheduled to take place in Kampala from 10 to 12 November 2010. The two day meeting is expected to be attended by experts in the field of environmental law and policy drawn broadly from different fields including academics, politicians, international organizations representatives, and influential policy makers.

Objectives and Expected Outcomes

The conference will seek to promote the integration the environmental dimension in national water laws and raise the understanding on the benefits of “greening” national water law within the contect of the African continent. The purpose of this conference is to offer a platform to debate and exchange views/lessons learnt on how to draft/review green water related legislation. The conference will address and assess a variety of legal and procedural mechanisms, at both the national and international arenas, designed to elevate the status and importance of environmental concerns in relation to other societal interests competing for water resources. Moreover, it will provide examples where such devises have been employed and assess their merits as mechanisms for securing water for environmental purposes.

UNEP Conference on “The Greening of Water Law in Africa: Managing Freshwater Resources for People and the Environment” 10-12 November 2010, Kampala, Uganda

UNEP Conference on “The Greening of Water Law in Africa: Managing Freshwater Resources for People and the Environment”
10-12 November 2010,
Kampala, Uganda