Background:
The Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) is a global-scale, international project sponsored by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to analyze both the causes and trends in water-related environmental degradation. The assessments undertaken by the individual and sub-regional project teams of the GIWA activity continue to make original contributions to the scientific literature on water resources, climate change impacts, adaptations and vulnerability.

For the purpose of GIWA scaling and scoping, the following lakes that are characteristic of most of the transboundary water bodies in the Africa region were selected: Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi and Turkana. These four are the largest of the East African Rift Valley lakes and are among the oldest in the world. Following completion and reporting of the scaling, scoping and detailed assessment results in the region, the project task team conducted causal chain analysis and policy options analysis. Results of this analysis were presented at the December 2003 PANAFCON in Addis Ababa.

Outcomes:

• PACOM cosponsored the GIWA Synthesis Workshop for Sub-Saharan Africa held in Cape Town, South Africa, 9 - 11 April 2002. The workshop included representatives from the projects including experts on freshwater and marine systems, socio-economics, law and health.
• The Pan-African START Secretariat organized and conducted the “Causal Chain and Policy Options Workshop” during 13 - 15 February 2003, in Nairobi, Kenya. The workshop had two main objectives, the first was to familiarize the task team with the GIWA methodology to be used in the analysis, and secondly to analyze one specific lake from the subregion as a case study for the GIWA activity. Fifteen experts were present, representing various disciplines (e.g. socio-economists, environmental lawyers, policy analysts, limnologists, fisheries biologists), from each country of the sub-region. Observers from UNEP-GEF and UNEP-DEWA, as well as officials from the GIWA Project headquarters in Kalmar, Sweden, also attended the meeting.
• The output of the Cape Town Workshop included a document on the regional water assessment. This document contributed to policy statements to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Furthermore, the project task team submitted a report to the GEF and was subsequently chosen to present results of the program activities at the World Water Forum III in Japan, 17-24 March 2003.

For more information, contact:
Eric Odada, Director
Pan African START Secretariat (PASS)
University of Nairobi, Department of Geology
Chiromo Campus, Riverside Drive
P O Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel/Fax: +254-20-444-7740
Email: pass@uonbi.ac.ke

Or:
Patricia Sipher
Email: psipher@agu.org

Global International Waters Assessment, GIWA
SE-391 82 Kalmar, Sweden
Tel: +46-480 44 73 53
Fax: +46-480 44 73 55
Email: info@giwa.net