Take the first step - promote this article!

Impact of land purchase on access to water in Africa is underestimated

source : The Guardian, Poverty matters blog

In a growing number of African countries, such as Mali and Ethiopia, foreign companies are buying thousands of hectares of land, usually for monoculture for export (flowers, exotic fruit and fuel crops). The Poverty matters blog of the British daily newspaper, The Guardian, underlines the fact that not only are these purchases reducing land surface available for local farmers but they are restricting water resources. According to the IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), a British-based organisation which has just published a study on the subject, the impact that this type of agriculture has on water seems to be greatly underestimated.

Land bought for agricultural use requires a great deal of irrigation. The IIED points out that it’s not unusual for land sale agreements to include clauses authorising free, unrestricted use of local resources, such as the River Niger in Mali. Such clauses increase the pressure on water access in countries already threatened with drought. This reality contrasts starkly with what is happening in less vulnerable countries, namely in Canada, for example (), where a specialist agency has just submitted a report to the government recommending that a price should be put on the use of water by heavy industry, mines in particular.

Thousands of miles from there, in Ethiopia, the Gibe III dam, mainly funded by China, will help irrigate 1500,000 hectares sold to investors by the Ethiopian government. However, according to the African Development Bank, the dam could lower the level of Lake Turkana in Kenya by eight meters by 2024. This impact is of great concern, given that some 500,000 Kenyans depend on the lake for their water needs.