According to a statement issued by the World Bank at the end of last week, the grant has a four-year objective to develop consensus on a SADC regional strategic approach to support and enhance the capacity of its member states to articulate and implement drought management policies, specifically in relation to the role, availability and supply potential of groundwater resources.

Most SADC countries face natural constraints such as highly varied rainfall, lack of basic data and knowledge, fragmented responsibility for management of water resources, the need to develop common policy approaches and technical capacity. These constraints are particularly apparent in the case of groundwater resources, the World Bank said.

About one third of the people in SADC live in drought-prone areas, where groundwater is the primary source of drinking water for the human population and livestock, and most other activities. Groundwater is also the prime source of water for many ecosystems and their wildlife in these areas. Groundwater resources in arid areas are under threat from over-exploitation, pollution and the introduction of exotic species. These threats arise primarily because of poverty linked to an increase in population pressure, as well as from irrigated agriculture, tourism, mining and pollution from human waste and agricultural chemicals.

The project comprises inter alia research into groundwater dependent ecosystems, the development of groundwater drought management tools and guidelines, and the establishment of a regional Groundwater Management Institute of Southern Africa.