A workshop on capacity building and the requirements of the Decision Support Tool (DST) for the REWarD-Volta River project will be held in Abidjan, the capital of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, from 15 to 16 November 2024. The workshop brought together experts from VBA’s National Focal Structures (NFS) and technical partners, namely the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), DHI and the Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA).
The representative of the Minister of Water and Forests The Deputy Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Water and Forests, Dr Djah Koffi, stressed the importance of water resources for the economic activities essential to the food security of the people of the Volta Basin.
‘It is crucial to protect our natural resources, especially water’, he said, adding that the tools currently being developed will enable water to be managed more quickly and efficiently, in terms of both quality and quantity.
VBA Executive Director, Dr Millogo Dibi, called for a pooling of knowledge to prevent the impacts of climate change on the basin’s resources. He recalled the strategic and economic stakes of this cross-border waterway for sub-regional integration.
The REWarD – Volta River Basin project aims to reverse trends in land and water degradation and support integrated ecosystem-based development by strengthening cross-border governance and restoring and conserving these ecosystems for sustainable livelihoods in the Volta Basin.
VBA, its member states and partners GWP-AO, UNEP and IUCN, using integrated ecosystem-based approaches for sustainable basin management, have initiated the project ‘Reversing Ecosystem and Water Degradation in the Volta River Basin (Reward- Volta River Basin)’, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The four key components of the REWarD project are as follows:
– Component 1: Improving the knowledge base and developing management tools for informed decision-making.
– Component 2: Strengthening cross-border planning, coordination and regional and national capacities, including during extreme events linked to climate change and variability.
– Component 3: Strengthening ecosystem resilience for sustainable livelihoods in the Volta Basin.
– Component 4: Knowledge management and sharing, effective monitoring and evaluation
