OPINIONNAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - A high level ‘independent’ panel created to enhance the effectiveness of UN-Habitat has proposed the creation of a rival body, called UN Urban, that will take on a large part of UN-Habitat’s work if approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations.The creation of a separate body to coordinate the sustainable urbanization agenda, which has been the role of UN-Habitat since 1978, will have a major impact on the United Nation’s presence in Kenya.It would mean major job cuts for Kenyan and expatriate staff working at UN-Habitat. And these cuts will affect Kenya’s economy, particularly in Nairobi. The effects will not be limited to losses of millions of dollars in foreign income, but will also extend to income losses by those employed (4000) by UN staff, landlords, shops, restaurants, tourist facilities and many others.The downsizing may go beyond UN-Habitat. It will also affect the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), created primarily to provide services to UNEP and UN-Habitat, the two UN agencies headquartered in Nairobi. Currently Kenya is the only developing country to host the Headquarters of United Nations agencies. The whole UN complex in Nairobi houses over 4,000 staff. If UN Urban is created in New York, and UN-Habitat is significantly downsized, the need to maintain a large UN Office at Nairobi to service the two agencies, UNEP and UN-Habitat, in Gigiri will diminish. The move to create UN Urban comes at a time when the United Nations system is undergoing major reforms aimed at cutting costs to achieve greater efficiency. These reforms include moving all UN regional offices to the cities where the UN regional commissions are located. In the case of Africa, this would mean moving the UN regional offices located in Kenya to Addis Ababa where the UN Economic Commission is based. With the move of regional offices and the downsizing of UN-Habitat, the justification for a large UN presence in Kenya will be greatly reduced. Indeed, there have been past attempts to move UNEP to Europe, but these have been resisted successfully in the past and the government of Kenya played a critical role in keeping the organization in Nairobi.Some see the hand of the current Head of UN-Habitat, Joan Clos, investigated for racist comments last year, as spearheading the effort to create the rival UN Urban body in New York as his term comes to an end at the end of this year. He is already making moves to place his cronies in New York and is believed to have constituted the panel that has come up with this recommendation.The panel report also recommends reducing the level of country programmes on urbanization , which are most valued by developing countries which are rapidly becoming more urban. It is ironic that the work of the United Nations is aimed at helping developing countries, yet there is resistance in maintaining the headquarters of just two of the UN agencies in the countries that have the greatest understanding of the…

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (PAMACC News) - The era of exporting obsolete technologies to Africa in the guise of meeting the continent’s infrastructure needs in the water and sanitation sector is over, say African water ministers. Ministers responsible for water and sanitation from across Africa made this declaration at the just concluded Africa Focus sessions of the ongoing 2017 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. Speaking on behalf of the president of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), the Egyptian Water and Irrigation Minister, Dr. Mohamed Abdel Atty, reckoned that by the year 2030, global demand for water will grow by 50% and most of this demand will be in the cities. “The need for newer approaches and technologies for wastewater collection, management and reuse therefore becomes imperative” Dr. Atty says. The Egyptian minister who also doubles as AMCOW Vice President for North Africa region declared that it has become a matter of urgency for Africa to set in motion, “the machinery for the implementation of new game-changing technologies, innovative institutional frameworks and well-designed business models for more effective wastewater management and improved water quality.” Nomvula Mokonyane, South Africa’s Water and Sanitation minister and panellist at the Africa Focus sessions was vehement in her denunciation of obsolete technologies packaged as aid to Africa. According to her, “Africa’s time to get organised and be proud of herself is now. We must avoid being a Guinea pig for life and arise as lead agent for transformation, adaptation and for new technologies, not for solutions that have been rendered redundant in other places.” “Technical capacity building, knowledge and education therefore have become key priorities for us as Africans,” Minister Nomvula said The South African Water Minister strongly urged her colleagues to lead Africa on the path to “dedicated process and programme of progressive implementation, action and performance towards improved water security the sustainable financing.” Reinforcing this position, Dhesigen Naidoo the CEO of Water Research Commission of the Republic of South Africa added that more than half of the innovative water related inventions in use across the globe today came from Africa and Africans. “Africa is the home of innovations in water and sanitation. All we need to do is to scale up," Naidoo said. Another panellist at the High Level Ministerial Panel of the Africa Focus session and Nigeria’s water resources minister, Engr. Suleiman Adamu believes that “African solutions are in Africa and effective management of wastewater will not only improve the economies of Africa, but would also improve and promote good health of Africans.” It is in this light, according to the minister, that “Nigeria is mobilizing resources through the Partnership for Expanded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) initiative to address the nation’s Water and Sanitation Sub-sector in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal-6 on water and safe sanitation in both rural and urban areas of the country.” With home-grown technologies, Dr. Canisius Kanangire, AMCOW’s Executive Secretary envisions a prosperous future for the continent. From what we call waste, Africa can generate…

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (PAMACC News) - African Water and Sanitation Ministers attending the 2017 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden have underlined the importance of wastewater to the region’s aspirations for economic growth and sustainable development. Speaking in Central Stockholm, water and sanitation minsters from the five sub-regions in Africa were unanimous in their resolve to adopt and promote effective wastewater management across Africa. According to them, improved wastewater management is not only critical to achieving the Africa Water Vision 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goal on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), but also to other goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In an address to over 3,100 delegates at the annual water event in Stockholm, Engr. Gerson Lwenge, the Tanzanian minister for Water and Irrigation and President of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), recalled that African Ministers responsible for sanitation took proactive steps before the end of the MDGs era in 2015 by adopting the N’gor Declaration with a commitment that Africa will “progressively eliminate untreated waste by encouraging its productive use.” Of equal importance to this commitment according to Engr. Lwenge, is “the fact that to actualize the potentials of turning waste to benefits, Africa needs to create the right policy environment and move from policy to effective implementation.” “It is on this basis that the High Level Ministerial Panel at this year’s Africa Focus Sessions will explore possibilities of using science to enrich policy making and increase policy implementation efficiency,” the AMCOW president added. The Senegalese Hydraulic and Sanitation Minister, Mansour Faye disclosed that this year’s World Water Week and by extension the Africa Focus Sessions, will provide a global platform for him and his colleague Ministers to “discuss policy options and enabling factors that support the adaption and implementation of innovative wastewater management approaches and technologies as well as draw recommendations on how African states can move from waste to benefits.” To Dr. Mohamed Abdel Atty, the Egyptian Water and Irrigation Minister and AMCOW Vice President for North Africa, AMCOW’s commitment to achieving an Africa where there is equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment remains unwavering. “With improved wastewater management particularly in the industrial and agricultural sectors, Africa will be on the firm path to food security and sustainable development” Dr Atty said. Speaking on behalf of Water and Sanitation Ministers from Southern Africa region at the World Water Week, Mrs Jabulile Mashwama, Kingdom of Swaziland’s Minister for Natural Resources and Energy and AMCOW Vice President (Southern Africa), this year’s world water week provides an opportunity for Africa Ministers “to highlight the vision and aspirations of the water and sanitation community and stakeholders; share evidence and perspectives, as well as policy options on enabling factors that support the adoption and implementation of innovative wastewater approaches.” From Central Africa region came the voice of caution as Léopold Mboli Fatran, Central African Republic Minister for Water, Mines and Energy and…

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Cameroon’s government is touting the construction of several new dams along the Sanaga River, to increase hydro-electric generation as part of its ambitious plans to become an emerging economy by 2035. The river is the country’s primary water source and already has two dams downstream from the new sites. “These (new) dams will be the biggest (electricity) generation asset of Cameroon by 2024, providing a very positive impact on Cameroon’s energy system,” said Louis Paul Motaze, minister of the economy, planning and regional development, at the signing of a financing agreement for the Nachtigal hydro dam with the African Development Bank in Yaounde, the capital, on July 17. With the economy forecast to grow by at least 5 percent annually between 2015 and 2018, Cameroon’s government says the hydro projects will ramp up power production to 3,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030, from a current level of 1,200 MW. The decision to multiply hydro sites on the River Sanaga according to the Minister of Water and Energy,Basil Atangana Kouna is geared at reinforcing climate and environmental protection in the river basin area as well as boost electricity supply for surrounding areas. He says the new dams to be constructed will also assist local farmers improve on their crop production to alleviate poverty, malnutrition impacted by the effects of climate change. Supported by the World Bank, the project that began in May 2017 is expected to be completed by July 2023 at a cost of US$ 28.70 million.According a May 2017 World Bank Report,the development of hydro sites on the Sanaga River, will permit current and future electricity consumers to benefit from cheaper hydroelectricity compared to fossil fuel alternatives, improved the country’s new electrification programs as part of vision 2035 economic emergence plan. Vision 2035 according to government, is to see Cameroon become a middle‐income, industrialized country with poverty levels below 10 percent by 2035. The strategy emphasizes the need for agricultural diversification, increased productivity, and large‐scale public investment projects with priority on infrastructure development in energy. World Bank officials note “There is a growing demand for electricity in Cameroon. In terms of electricity distribution and access, only approximately 48 percent of the Cameroonian population have access to electricity. With Cameroon having the third largest hydropower development potential in sub-Saharan Africa, and half of it being in the Sanaga River basin, it is important to focus on the hydro development of this river and assist the country in its development of the sector for the benefit of the population,” said Elisabeth Huybens, World Bank Country Director for Cameroon. A World Bank Funded studies on the impacts of climate change on minimum water flow in the river said it was potentially severe with droughts crippling not only the energy sector but affecting rain-fed agriculture, reducing crop yields by more than 15 percent in the last five years. The Hydropower projects will enable regulation of water levels in the Sanaga River, benefiting the population of over 5million in the…