Conclusions and Recommendations in Mozambique

Session 1: Integrated water resource management - implications for Mozambique

Conclusions and recommendations

• The outcome of this session are meant to share our experiences with you and elaborate on what has and has not worked in other countries.

• Flood protection and mitigation measures have to be viewed within the context of integrated resource management.

• There is need for good, correct and reasonable balance between structural and non-structural measures. The mix between these two would depend upon the specific situation at hand and the focus in some cases could be more on the structural aspects and in other cases would be more on non-structural aspects.

Overview of the Mozambique Floods

There are fifteen international river basins in southern Africa and Mozambique has nine of these river basins in common with the other regional countries. There is need to adopt a river basin approach to flood management and mitigation. The geographical location of Mozambique makes it vulnerable to floods, droughts, erosion and salt -water intrusion from the sea.

• There is need to sign a specific treaty and agreements with the concerned countries on each one of these common river basins. The cost of flood management and protection should be a joint concern of all the states in the region. However, the formulation and agreement on treaties can often entail a long negotiating period.

• The key stations of hydro-metrological data should be identified and should be kept operational particularly in the flood season. The communication and information sharing channels should be readily accessible when required. Early warning systems should be kept operational to ensure that adequate information is provided to mitigate the damage from floods.

• Support from the international community is necessary to reduce the vulnerability of Mozambique and the programmes of reconstruction and rehabilitation should be continued even after the floods.

Flood Management and Mitigation

Management of water resources should be undertaken within the IWRM framework. In Mozambique the capacity of institutions needs to be strengthened, an enabling environment needs to be created by building upon existing international co-operation measures, measures for flood mitigation and droughts and on the political level there is a need for conflict resolution among competing demands.

• Floods are not avoidable but a lot of people could have received proper warning in time and proper emergency help and humanitarian assistance could have been provided in a more effective manner.

• An examination of structural versus non-structural measures indicate that in Mozambique cost-benefit analysis does not justify a structural approach and therefore it is important to focus on the non-structural aspects of flood protection and mitigation approach.

• It is not sufficient to give hydrological data to the people. What you need to give to the people is information on how the flood is going to behave at the location where they live and how the flood will affect them and what measures they need to adopt.

• Flood forecasting maps are a good way of providing relevant information to the affected people and have been used in other countries like Bangladesh to depict flood patterns. Satellite information systems can sustain the information on flood maps even through the cloud cover and can provide information in real time. This information could be compared with forecasting models to assess their reliability. Information has to be given to people in graphical form to enable them to interpret and use it properly. The internet could be used as an effective means of information sharing and dissemination, where possible. However, it needs to be kept in mind that information collection, flood forecasting technology and internet services are not freely accessible in Mozambique.

• There is a need to have a balance between the structural and non-structural measures. However, the costs, benefits, maintenance requirements and the environmental consequences of the physical infrastructure investments made for flood protection and mitigation need to be carefully evaluated.

• Land use planning is only marginally affected by a flood which has a 50 or a 100 year frequency.Land use planning is generally affected by floods that have a two or three-year frequency.

Public Participatory Processes

• The problem of floods cannot be resolved without public participation. There is a need to work with the people who are affected by floods. Public participation enables informed and innovative decision-making and building citizenship for joint disaster mitigation.

• There are nine elements in the public participation of disaster mitigation cycle that included disaster management, rehabilitation, reconstruction, feedback, mapping, strategic planning, community information, capacity building and disaster preparedness.

• A four phased methodology was recommended for the public participation in disaster mitigation. This required an assessment phase, training of local authorities with public participation practitioners, training of representatives of the civil society with participation practitioners (NGOs, traditional leaders) and training of other partners involved in flood mitigation and continuous evaluation of the training programme.

• The Mozambique Government is in the process of decentralizing its flood protection and mitigation strategy to the local level. There is a need to identify how public participation measures suggested here can be implemented more effectively.

A Gender Perspective to Flood Protection & Mitigation

• Information Collection: The value of community participation approaches is now being understood. However, there is need to go a step further and incorporate gender concerns to better understand livelihood systems in flood prone areas and prepare for flood protection and mitigation. Women play a key role in the household livelihood systems and without an understanding of their roles and responsibilities an appropriate flood protection and mitigation strategy cannot be formulated.

• Use of Flood Protection & Mitigation Infrastructure: Investment made in flood infrastructure works such as drainage channels are often used as disposal sites for solid waste management. There is a need to discuss with local communities the implications of filling the drainage channels and giving them responsibility for local level policing.

• Early Flood Warning Systems: There is a need to understand why people who are given warning do not move. This could be a question of lack of credibility of the flood warning systems, lack of resources to move or lack of alternate places to move to. Unless the reasons for moving out are investigated there is no point in insisting that people be given adequate information if they are not going to use the information. There is a need to discuss coping strategies with people and make evacuation plans in conjunction with them. Local level community organisation is required to help local communities cope more effectively in an emergency situation. Local level community arrangements exist in some locations and these arrangements need to be strengthened where they exist.

• Resettlement & Rehabilitation Plans: Where people continue to live on flood prone and vulnerable areas there is a need to discuss coping strategies with them and understand their needs for rehabilitation. The concerns of both men and women need to be incorporated into the rehabilitation and resettlement strategies. Settlement plans need to be made in discussion and negotiation with local communities. There is a need to understand how land use and the land tenure systems affect settlement patterns and whether changes in these could be used to encourage people to move to safer areas.

Case Study Bangladesh

People know how to cope with annual flooding which entails inundation of 30% of the land in Bangladesh. This annual flooding has some very beneficial aspects and is not of concern to people as they have learnt to expect and cope with this situation. Inundation of more than 30% is a matter of concern.

• Flood proofing and embankment construction are two principals means of flood protection that have been used in Bangladesh. However, these embankments are now being criticised due to unpredictable morphological changes, water logging, prolonged flood severity and damaged fishery resources.

• From flood control to resource management: Flood control cannot be undertaken in isolation but has to be integrated within the framework of integrated water resource management. Bangladesh cannot provide full protection from floods and water resources management is people’s business.

• A targeted strategy is being adopted to prioritise and select what will be protected. The key areas fro protection that have been identified are the capital city, the economic zone, airports and secondary cities, etc.

• People’s contribution and ownership of flood protection measures is now considered key and no steps are taken by the government unless people are willing to participate in the maintenance of the infrastructure that is developed.

Case Study Pakistan

Pakistan has the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world. About 75% to 80% of the water in Pakistan is from glacial snow melt and only 20% is from precipitation. About 75% of the water is available in only three months. The main River Indus runs on a ridge during its last five hundred miles and the flow cannot drain back when the river overflows.

• Floods in Pakistan are caused by monsoon rainfall and glacial snowmelt. Pakistan has a good system for flood forecasting, flood measurement and flood communication systems. However, when floods come we have a problem. It is necessary to stress both structural and non-structural measures.

• There is no feedback mechanism that helps us prepare better and work with participatory institutions that can help build on the experience and expertise of different institutions and undertake effective measures for flood control.

• It is a challenge to look at the management of rivers within the perspective of integrated resource management. It is a challenge to reconcile the different competing demands of flood mitigation, irrigation and hydropower. The needs and concerns of the upper riparian and lower riparian have to be taken into consideration. The best option is to take the people into confidence and develop a strategy in collaboration in confidence with the local people.

• Disrupting and diverting rivers can have major environmental consequences. The river carries not only water but also sediments. We may solve one problem but create another problem. Building dams is not always a solution. Interfere with nature can have serious consequences. There is a need to think about the long-term implications of these interventions very carefully.