Page 56 - CIWA-AR24

Introduction
Calming conflict through groundwater resilience Introduction

A major

source of

conflict

is water.

Developing a unified agreement with all
three countries over data sharing has
proven challenging, Salah says. Although
Somalia and Ethiopia have signed a draft
procedure, IGAD is still negotiating with
Kenya, which has additional legal and
other requirements to meet before
agreeing to ratify it.

“We are trying,” she says. “It is their
security and sovereignty,” she says. “It is a
long journey, but we have started.”

Encouraging signs
of collaboration
Salah says that she is buoyed by how
CIWA’s Untapping Resilience initiative has
fostered communication and cooperation
between member states.

With regular interaction between technical
water resources staff among the three
countries during capacity-building events
and meetings of the bi-weekly National
Focal Group, technical Task Force, Project
Steering Committee, and Technical
Advisory Committee, she says, they have
learned “to speak freely regardless of their
national background.”

“Water management in one country will
affect the downstream country,” she says.
“The project is good for the collaboration
of the three countries for the benefit of
communities. The three countries have
become closer.”

51 Igbal Salah monitoring a well cover. ©Igbal Salah / CIWA Program