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1 Taye, Meron Teferi; Seid, Abdulkarim H.; Tilaye, R.; Tekleab, S.; Mohammed, M.; Berhanu, B. 2024. Improving water and climate data and decision support tools for climate-smart water management in Ethiopia. Synthesis report prepared by the Prioritization of Climate-smart Water Management Practices project. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 28p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2024.205]
Water management ; Climatic data ; Decision-support systems ; Climate change ; Water resources ; Water availability ; Water use ; Monitoring ; Groundwater ; Climate services ; Databases ; Early warning systems ; Weather forecasting ; Institutions / Ethiopia / Awash Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052695)
(15.4 MB)
Water is the medium through which most impacts of climate change on people’s livelihoods and ecosystems are transmitted. Climate change can lead to increasing scarcity of water, intensify variability in rainfall and, thereby, river discharge; and exacerbate the severity of flood, drought and heatwave extremes. Reducing climate-induced water scarcity and enhancing climate resilience to water-related hazards requires well-thought-out actions that include water infrastructure development, putting in place adaptive institutional frameworks, and increasingly developing and employing innovations and future-oriented climate and water data and decision support systems. This report is one of the outputs of the study conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) as part of the project Prioritization of Climate-smart Water Management Practices. The aim of the study has been to develop recommendations for addressing two of the critical gaps identified for improving climate resilience of water resources management in Ethiopia, namely, (1) inadequate data and information on key hydrological variables that have led to a lack of recent knowledge on water availability, actual water use, water source types and potentials; and (2) a lack of decision support tools that would provide strategic and operational level information and capacity for risk-based planning and management of water resources. The report is based on an analysis of collected data, information gleaned through stakeholder consultations and a review of existing literature on climate and water data, and decision support tools in use in the Awash River Basin and at national level in Ethiopia. This synthesis report focuses on the technical aspects of climate and water data and decision support tools, while the institutional aspects are presented in Sanchez Ramirez et al. 2024.
This study conceptualizes climate-smart water management as having three reinforcing objectives: maximize the goods and services that can be produced from the limited water resources; minimize the impact of climate extremes — floods and droughts at multiple scales; curtail the impact of rainfall variability across scales, including small-scale agricultural producers, and enhance water resources planning and management at the basin scale.
Key challenges that have been identified include inadequate spatial coverage of hydrometeorological networks; short and, very often, intermittent river discharge data; almost nonexistent water use monitoring; fragmentation of data and inadequate capacity of skilled personnel. There are a number of ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Water and Energy with the aim of addressing these challenges. Weather forecasts are made regularly by the Ethiopian Meteorology Institute (EMI) with attempts to translate these forecasts into their potential impacts on agriculture, water and health. These forecasts and their translation into sector-specific implications need to be improved to make them actionable at lower spatial scales. There is also a need to improve the interoperability of databases and systems to minimize data fragmentation and ensure timely sharing of data.
This report presents a conceptual architecture of improved water and climate data and decision support tools, together with specific recommendations for improving hydrometeorological data collection networks, monitoring of agricultural water use, communication of information across scales and decision support tools. The recommendations are intended to provide input for ongoing discussions on improving climate and water data and decision support tools for climateresilient water resources management in Ethiopia.
This study conceptualizes climate-smart water management as having three reinforcing objectives: maximize the goods and services that can be produced from the limited water resources; minimize the impact of climate extremes — floods and droughts at multiple scales; curtail the impact of rainfall variability across scales, including small-scale agricultural producers, and enhance water resources planning and management at the basin scale.
Key challenges that have been identified include inadequate spatial coverage of hydrometeorological networks; short and, very often, intermittent river discharge data; almost nonexistent water use monitoring; fragmentation of data and inadequate capacity of skilled personnel. There are a number of ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Water and Energy with the aim of addressing these challenges. Weather forecasts are made regularly by the Ethiopian Meteorology Institute (EMI) with attempts to translate these forecasts into their potential impacts on agriculture, water and health. These forecasts and their translation into sector-specific implications need to be improved to make them actionable at lower spatial scales. There is also a need to improve the interoperability of databases and systems to minimize data fragmentation and ensure timely sharing of data.
This report presents a conceptual architecture of improved water and climate data and decision support tools, together with specific recommendations for improving hydrometeorological data collection networks, monitoring of agricultural water use, communication of information across scales and decision support tools. The recommendations are intended to provide input for ongoing discussions on improving climate and water data and decision support tools for climateresilient water resources management in Ethiopia.
2 Taye, Meron Teferi; Seid, Abdulkarim H.; Tekleab, S.; Tilaye, R.; Abebe, S.; Admassu, W.; Bitew, A.; Abdulkadir, O.; Mohammed, M.; Berhanu, B. 2024. Multi-scale water resources assessment in Awash Basin, Ethiopia. Synthesis report prepared by the Prioritization of Climate-smart Water Management Practices project. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 34p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2024.211]
Water resources ; water management ; Water demand ; Water use ; Assessment ; River basins ; Hydrology ; Groundwater ; Climate change ; Vulnerability ; Climate resilience ; Decision-support systems ; Watersheds ; Water availability ; Institutions / Ethiopia / Awash River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052839)
(23.9 MB)
Water resources management under a changing climate requires a multi-scale water resources understanding of a given basin. The Awash River Basin of Ethiopia is experiencing various water management challenges due to its complex hydro-climatological conditions and a range of water users, hence understanding the anthropogenic impacts on hydrological changes is complex. The study is aimed at improving the climate resilience of water management practices at multiple spatial scales. This report is a synthesis of the multi-scale water resources assessment of the Awash Basin. The objectives are: (1) characterization of the basin’s distribution and availability of water; (2) identification of the existing water resources planning and management practices; (3) challenges at multiple scales; and (4) developing recommendations to address observed gaps. The approach used to meet these objectives is a water resources assessment from the landscape to the basin-scale. This is to understand the current practices on water management through field observation, stakeholder consultations, and the analysis of existing data and literature on water resources of the basin. Field observations were conducted on selected learning watersheds in three sub-basins: Borkena, Mille and Awash Terminal. The specific watersheds are Felana, Lake Maybar and Gelana, and Ewa and Afambo. The key challenges to water resources management that were observed at basin, sub-basin and watershed levels are: (1) inadequate data and information on key hydrological variables that led to a lack of recent knowledge on water availability, actual water use, types and potentials of water sources; (2) lack of decision-support tools that would provide strategic and operational level information for risk-based planning and management of water resources (3) lack of appropriate water infrastructure and context-specific technologies that can support small-scale producers (SSPs) and basin-level water managers; (4) lack of well-coordinated institutions to govern and manage water resources from catchment to basin levels; and (5) lack of technical skills and knowledge on how to monitor water availability, water use, and the application of tools. The implications of these challenges are visible in water scarcity observed during dry seasons for different sectors; low agricultural productivity; upstream-downstream tension on water; flooding damages in peak rainfall seasons; and deterioration in water quality that impacts agriculture and drinking water supply. This study finds out that the practice of water resources management in the basin requires substantial strengthening to make it climate resilient. The study proposes strategies that would help in making climate-smart water resources management practices in the basin. Climate-smart water resources management is defined as the practice that would maximize the goods and services that can be produced from limited water resources; minimize the impact of climate extremes - floods and droughts at multiple scales; curtail the impact of rainfall variability on small-scale producers, and enhance water resources planning and management at the basin-scale. To achieve these goals, the study proposes to utilize five strategies which are: (1) improving availability and access to timely and context-specific climate and water information services that are well coordinated across sectors; (2) enhancing water use efficiency and productivity at multiple scales and sectors; (3) promoting integrated water storage use and management; (4) improving climate-resilient water governance; and (5) multilevel and inclusive capacity development. The adoption and implementation of these strategies are envisaged to facilitate effective sustainable water resources management in the Awash Basin.
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