A comparative study on river basin development and management

The Volta River Basin, West Africa - Background information

Research Goal and Scope

The CA takes stock of the costs and benefits of the past 50 years of water development for agriculture, evaluates current water management challenges and solutions, and identifies the best options for the future. The results will enable governments, donors and farming communities to make better-quality water decisions in the near future and over the next 25 years.

River Basin Comparative Study

One project of the CA is a comparative basin analysis. In these studies the CA will look at historical development of nine river basins - Yellow River (China), Chao Phraya (Thailand), Walawe (Sri Lanka) , Zayandeh Rud (Iran) , Jordan Rift Valley ( Jordan ), Merguellil (Tunisia), Volta (Burkina Faso/Ghana), Olifant (South Africa), Lerma-Chapala (Mexico) -  with the aim to derive generic understanding on how societies manage water resources under growing population and basin closure, which problems are faced, and which range of solutions (technical, institutional) are available for a given physical/societal context: 

• The studies first address the past transformations of each basin, periodize changes and draw lessons on how population growth and water resource development related to food production and environmental degradation/ preservation. 

• They investigate in more detail the present situation and define the scope for improvement in management, allocation, environmental services and income generation. 

• A third part deals with projections and scenarios, with the aim to inform current or future stakeholders dialogues and to provide decision-makers with a state-of-the-art analysis and understanding of the basin challenges and opportunities.

The study will capitalize on the work of other projects in the basin (e.g. GLOWA, Challenge Program Water & Food projects) and contribute to the final CA basins synthesis compiled at IWMI under the leadership of Francois Mole (f.mole@cgiar.org).