Panellists from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) at the launch of the IWMI Strategy 2024–2030 in East Africa. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
NAIROBI, Apr 9 2025 (IPS)

In East Africa, climate change has made water a lifeline and threat.

In a region highly dependent on rainfall for growing crops, climate change is threatening water security but science-backed solutions are helping turn the tide.

Global leaders, scientists, policymakers, and development partners meeting in Nairobi during the inaugural CGIAR Science Week  made a tight case for water security and productivity in East Africa, a region vulnerable to the increased impacts of climate change such as droughts and floods.

The use, conservation and management of water underpins sustainable development of the East Africa region, which covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

“Water security means considering how much water you have, water of sufficient quality and being  able to manage risks – drought, floods, extreme events – in ways that livelihoods and lives, the economy and ecosystems can all thrive together,” said Mark Smith, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), at the launch of the IWMI Strategy 2024–2030 in East Africa.

Smith noted that the new strategy was a significant leap forward in the institute’s mission to harness science research in enhancing water security, supporting climate adaptation and driving sustainable agriculture across East Africa.

“Water security  is necessarily systemic and our strategy reflects that,” he said. “There is a  flipside to that aspect of water in which it intersects with different types of uses. If you can get water security right, then you can  trigger transformation across those systems as you open access to water and enable more  sustainable and fairer sharing of water across different uses.”

By harnessing  cutting-edge research and fostering regional partnerships, IWMI aims to deliver solutions that improve livelihoods across East Africa.

“Water security is important for the transformation of agriculture and for sustainable development,” he said, adding that, “Water is at the heart of climate resilience, food security and economic development.”

Sara Mbago-Bhunu,  Director of the East and Southern Africa Division of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), highlighting the importance of collaboration in enhancing water security,  called for continued public and private financing for the water sector, particularly to benefit small-scale farmers through irrigation facilities.

IFAD has invested USD 2 billion in irrigation and water management in 100 projects worldwide, while in East Africa it has supported 14 projects in 12 countries. Mbago-Bhunu said it was critical to invest in water accounting.

“We tend to underestimate what water accounting is  and irrigation performance assessment translated into how we source water, how we manage it but also how we account for it because accounting  will give us further breakthroughs to where we should change in the way we invest in water technologies,” she said.

Ephantus Kimoto, Principal Secretary in the Department for Irrigation in the Ministry of Water, sanitation and Irrigation of Kenya,  said the government was working to boost irrigation capacity in the country. Currently only four percent of Kenya’s arable land was under irrigation under the National Irrigation Sector Investment Master Plan (NISIP); there is irrigation potential of 3.5  million acres in the country.

Kimoto noted that Kenya had enough water resources but lacked the economic means to scale up irrigation projects. Under the national plan, Kenya seeks to increase the land under irrigation up to 1 million acres and boost food productivity and job creation, especially among the youth.

A panel discussion hosted alongside the launch of the IWMI strategy noted the importance of collaboration in the management of water resources in East Africa while at the same time scaling up innovation and research.

For farmers, saving water is everything.

“Water is a scarce resource and we need to  guard it well, “ said Elizabeth Nsimadala, President, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation.

“We are seeing a lot of water wasted and what is missing is the science bit. When you look at wasted water when it comes to irrigation, there is a lot and this directly affects the output. What is also a missing from our end as farmers is how much quantity does this crop require, as different crops require different quantities of water.”

Nsimadala – a coffee farmer – said policy, infrastructure, sustainability, access and management were priority issues for farmers in terms of water use. She called for the provision of water-saving technologies for farmers because of the competing water uses that have been worsened by the impact of climate change.

While Yelvin Denje, a research fellow with the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support

(AGNES) said the interface between science and policy has led to improvements in equitable access and unlocked the potential for water and development on the continent but it was hard to measure the effectiveness of policies.

“There are now in many African countries water regulations, acts and water laws,” he said, citing the Africa Water Vision for 2025.

IPS UN Bureau Report,