In 1993, FAO launched a programme known as AQUASTAT, its global information system on water and agriculture. It collects, analyses and disseminates information by country and by region, with an emphasis on developing countries and countries in transition. Its aim is to present a comprehensive picture of water resources and irrigation and to provide users interested in global, regional and national analysis with the most accurate, up-to-date, reliable and consistent information on water for agriculture and rural development. At the time of its launch, priority was given to Africa, which initiated the AQUASTAT publication series. The survey continued with the Near East, the countries of the former Soviet Union, South and East Asia and finally Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ten years after the first publication on Africa, it appeared necessary to update the data and to identify the main changes in water use and irrigation that had occurred on the African continent. To obtain the most reliable information, AQUASTAT draws as much as possible on national capacities and expertise. The collection of information by country was organized using a detailed questionnaire, followed by a compilation and critical analysis of the information gathered, also taking into consideration transboundary water issues. The country profiles have then been submitted to national authorities responsible for irrigated agriculture and water for verification and approval, and finally the on-line database was updated.
The publication resulting from this new survey presents the synthesis of the data collected from the 53 African countries. It presents the most recent information available on water availability and its use on the African continent, with an emphasis on agricultural water use and management. It analyses the changes that have occurred in the ten years since the first survey. The publication consists of two parts: the main report and the 53 detailed country profiles of the African continent included in the CD-ROM accompanying the main report.
The main report presents a regional analysis of the standardized sections of the country profiles: (i) geography, climate and population; (ii) economy, agriculture and food security; (iii) water resources and water use; (iv) irrigation and drainage development; (v) water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture; (vi) environment and health; (vii) perspectives for agricultural water management; and (viii) references and additional information.
The main conclusions drawn from this synopsis are: substantial institutional changes have taken place in the region in the last ten years: almost all large international rivers now have basin organizations that group together all or some of the countries included in one basin to manage the shared resources; water management in African countries has now generally a legal framework, mainly based on a water code. Since the previous survey, a lot of drafts have been reviewed, amendments made and adopted and implementation started.
During the last ten years, the area equipped for irrigation (which includes areas equipped for full/partially controlled irrigation, equipped lowlands and spate irrigated areas) has increased from 12.2 to 13.4 million hectares, which is an increase of 1.2 million hectares, or almost 10 percent. This is equivalent to an annual rate of increase of 0.88 percent (1992–2000 weighted year index). The area under one or another form of agricultural water management, which includes the above area equipped for irrigation plus the non-equipped cultivated lowlands (wetlands, inland valley bottoms, flood recession areas), has increased from 14.3 to 15.4 million hectares, or less than 8 percent. The slower growth of the latter is due to the fact that in addition to equipping new areas for irrigation part of the previously non-equipped cultivated lowlands have since then been equipped.
Pressurized irrigation covers 2.7 million hectares, which is 20 percent of the area equipped for irrigation and almost 22 percent of the full/partially controlled irrigation area (17 percent sprinkler irrigation and 5 percent localized irrigation). The area under sprinkler irrigation has doubled since the last survey and the increase took place almost entirely in Southern Africa, while localized irrigation sees a growth both in North and Southern Africa. These regions are dry but also contain most of the countries that are in a more advanced stage of development.
The country profiles present more detailed qualitative and quantitative information at national level and are illustrated by national maps. Whereas the main report is available in both English and French, the country profile is available only in the official language of FAO in the country.
This work will be published as FAO Water Report 29.
For further details, consult the AQUASTAT website: http://www.fao.org/ag/aquastat (e-mail: [email protected]) or contact: [email protected] or [email protected]
WCA-infoNET, the IPTRID Interactive Internet-based Information System, was recently re-launched given the interest shown by the majority of its stakeholders and the remarkable success of its original idea which was pointed out by the evaluation of its current situation.
The system was upgraded with enhanced features and more stability to keep up with the continuous development of the Community Directory System platform that constitutes the fundamental structure of WCA-infoNET. The backbone of the system (its semantic topic tree) was also simplified and reoriented to make it easy-to-use to bring more subscribers and to preserve its current loyal users.
In terms of content enhancement, the management of WCA-infoNET has made a special effort to add region-selected information through the recruitment of consultants from within the regions for data inputting and through the linkage with regional/national water institutes while centrally coordinating activities. So far, content related to the Near East and South Asia regions has been enhanced with an iteration plan to move to other regions.
The system is currently fully functioning, has more than 2 500 knowledge objects stored on it most of which are held on its server. It now counts 21 editors, 2 researchers and one consultant for regular inputting of information. However, it is only through the continuous and active support of all its stakeholders, both individuals and institutions, that the system can, in a sustainable manner, continue running and its threshold value of 8 000 to 10 000 KOs estimated at its inception can become a realistic goal.
For more information, please contact
[email protected]
WCA-infoNET can be accessed as usual by its URL:
http://www.wca-infonet.org
IPTRID and the Water Resource Development and Management service of FAO have decided to join their common goal and merge their work on learning tool provision for capacity development. The result of the joint effort was the Capacity Development for Water in Agriculture Database (CapDevWater). CapDevWater is a web-based tool that provides information on activities that cover the typically applied instruments used in the process of training the stakeholders involved in irrigated agriculture management. It aims at creating a meeting point for both people in search of capacity development opportunities and those offering these opportunities. The joint database contains relevant information on course/event provider, duration, target group as well as contact information in order to obtain further details. Course/event providers are invited to register so they can add and update their data online. CapDevWater can be found on: http://www.fao.org/landandwater/cdwa/
See page 21 for Web page image.
For more information, please contact
[email protected]
CapDevWater can be accessed as usual by its URL:
http://www.fao.org/landandwater/cdwa
