Africa’s water challenges are becoming increasingly tied to the continent’s wider peace and security concerns, with cooperation over shared resources offering an opportunity to build resilience as climate pressures grow, Dr. Matthias Naab, Director at UNDP Addis Ababa, has said.
Naab made the remarks at the 5th Continental Dialogue on Youth, Peace and Security and Women, Peace and Security in Africa, held in Bujumbura, Burundi, from August 10 to 12. The continental dialogue brings together stakeholders around the role of young people and women in shaping peace, security, governance and policy across Africa.
The broader process has focused on moving beyond participation towards giving youth and women a meaningful role in decision-making and institutional reform.
The dialogue follows a technical-level consultation held in Addis Ababa in July, which examined gaps in existing youth and women peace and security frameworks, the implementation of the African Youth Charter and the institutional pathways available for young people and women to influence peace and security processes. Its recommendations are being carried into the Bujumbura dialogue.
Against that backdrop, water has emerged as another dimension of the peace and resilience conversation.
According to Naab, cooperation over water resources can do more than improve access. It can help countries and communities build trust and strengthen their ability to withstand pressures that can threaten peace and stability.
“Water cooperation can be a powerful instrument for building trust, resilience and peace,” Naab said.
He also pointed to groundwater as an important part of that effort, saying UNDP and its partners are working through the Groundwater Access Facility for Africa to turn the continent’s groundwater potential into sustainable, climate-resilient and investment-ready solutions.
That approach brings the question of water closer to the investment and resilience challenges facing African countries, particularly as climate pressures increase demand for reliable water resources.
Naab also drew attention to who gets to shape decisions around those resources. According to him, women and young people need a stronger role not only in water programmes, but in water governance, early warning, mediation and cross-border cooperation.
“Africa’s water agenda is also a peace and resilience agenda,” he said.
The message places water within a much broader policy conversation. For countries sharing rivers, groundwater systems and other water resources, how those resources are governed can influence cooperation between communities and across borders.
That focus also fits the wider objective of the continental dialogue, which is seeking to strengthen the ability of women and young people to move from being participants in peace and security discussions to having a meaningful influence over priorities, resources and accountability.
Naab said the leadership of women and young people is already contributing to solutions across Africa and should increasingly be reflected in the institutions and decisions that shape the continent’s shared future.
The emphasis is therefore shifting from water as simply a question of supply to one involving resilience, investment, governance and peace, an approach Naab believes can help Africa make better use of its water resources while strengthening the systems around them.
