Last week was World Water Week, with the theme “Water for Climate Action”. It underscored how water security is inseparable from climate resilience, reminding policymakers and stakeholders that tackling the climate crisis requires urgent investment in sustainable water management. Currently, around four billion people live in highly water-stressed conditions at least once a month each year. This has adverse effects on health, hygiene, education, and the environment leaving communities exposed to disease, conflict, and broader socioeconomic pitfalls.
Africa’s Water Security: A Critical Priority
For Africa, this theme is particularly urgent, as climate change is already intensifying water scarcity, flooding, and food insecurity across the continent. Changing precipitation patterns are fueling more frequent droughts and floods in regions such as East and Southern Africa. In North Africa, around 22% of the region’s water shortage will be directly linked to climate change by 2050.
The continent faces structural challenges that undermine water security and threaten agriculture, food systems, public health, and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas reliant on rain-fed systems. Urban infrastructure is also under strain, South Africa’s economic center Johannesburg is grappling with frequent water cuts, while Kampala in Uganda faces recurrent flooding due to poor drainage.
Water has become a geopolitical flashpoint too. Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam highlight how shared water resources can fuel interstate disputes. Egypt, with 95% of its population dependent on the Nile, faces deepening water scarcity, especially in cities like Cairo.
Africa’s small island nations confront compounded threats, where freshwater scarcity and rising sea levels endanger livelihoods and risk driving climate-induced migration. In Comoros, for example, only 15% of the population has access to safe, clean drinking water. In Central Africa, the crisis is equally stark, with 57% of the Central African Republic’s population lacking access to clean water and sanitation.
Water at the Heart of Climate Action
World Water Week 2025 elevated water management as a cornerstone of both climate mitigation and resilience, framing it as a strategic entry point into global processes such as COP30 in Brazil and the 2026 UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi. The theme underscored the cross-sectoral role of water, connecting ecosystems, food systems, governance, and finance.
For African delegates, this momentum provides a platform to spotlight scalable, context-specific solutions such as catchment restoration, nature-based approaches, and solar-powered systems that simultaneously strengthen ecosystems and build community resilience. Institutions are already at the forefront of this. The African Development Bank has positioned water security as a pillar of its Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033), committing US$2.8 billion annually to water resilience, weather monitoring, and governance. At the regional level, the Niger Basin Authority’s Integrated Programme for Development and Adaptation to Climate Change mobilises financing to restore degraded catchments, improve irrigation efficiency, and strengthen early-warning systems across nine West African countries. National programmes are also advancing progress; Kenya’s Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Programme is expanding urban water access while integrating solar energy and converting waste into briquettes and fertiliser.
Contesting the Future of Water Governance
Yet, civil society warns against allowing market-driven approaches to dominate water governance. The Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition (OWORAC) stresses that the climate crisis must not become a pretext for water privatisation. The coalition defends water as a human right, resisting corporate-led models advanced through public–private partnerships (PPPs), water concessions, and bulk water purchase agreements.
These debates are especially pressing in climate-vulnerable regions such as Kilimanjaro, Rwenzori, and Mount Kenya, where retreating glaciers threaten the river systems that sustain the Nile and the Congo. Despite intensifying scarcity, flagship PPPs such as Rwanda’s Kigali Bulk Water Supply Project and bulk water purchase agreements in South Africa, where large-scale farms rely heavily on rivers, canals, and boreholes, continue to expand.
Importance and Relevance to Africa
World Water Week underscored the importance of equity, climate justice, and inclusive design in shaping responses to water security. Sessions highlighted transboundary climate-resilient water resource management, applicable to fragile regions such as the Horn of Africa, alongside efforts to address water contamination, restore wetlands, and channel more climate finance into water security. These issues are particularly relevant to Africa’s water challenges. As the continent prepares for the African Climate Summit and COP30, ensuring that water-related priorities are placed at the centre of global climate negotiations will be critical. Positioning water as both a development and resilience agenda item will help Africa not only address its vulnerabilities but also advance its broader climate justice demands.
Looking Ahead
World Water Week made clear that the stakes are high. As the world builds towards COP30 and the 2026 UN Water Conference, Africa’s positioning in global debates on water governance will be pivotal. Ensuring equitable access to water will not only define social justice outcomes but also shape the continent’s climate-resilient future.
Author: Kennedy Simango
Research Analyst
