ECOWAS
By Michael Olugbode
West Africa is beginning to treat water as a matter of regional security, economic survival and political cooperation, rather than simply an issue of access to drinking water.
That shift in thinking dominated the inaugural West Africa Regional Water Forum (FREAO) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where governments and regional institutions moved to establish a common framework for confronting the growing pressures on the region’s water resources.
The forum, convened by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in partnership with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), ended on September 25 with the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration and a shared regional water roadmap.
Cabo Verde was also selected to host the next edition of the forum.
Held under the theme, “Valuing Water to Transform West Africa,” the meeting brought together heads of government, ministers, regional institutions, river-basin organisations, development partners, academics, the private sector and civil society.
But beneath the diplomatic language of regional integration was a more fundamental concern: how West Africa can prevent competition over a finite and increasingly vulnerable resource from becoming a barrier to development.
The resource that ignores borders
Unlike roads, power grids and national budgets, rivers do not stop at international boundaries.
Water originating in one country can determine the fortunes of communities hundreds of kilometres away in another. A dam, irrigation project, industrial activity or environmental disaster upstream can therefore have consequences far beyond the territory where it occurs.
This makes water management particularly sensitive in West Africa, where countries share numerous river basins.
For Nigeria, the issue is especially relevant because of its position within the Niger and Benue river systems and its dependence on transboundary water resources.
What happens upstream can affect agriculture, fisheries, ecosystems, flood patterns and livelihoods downstream.
It was against this background that Ivorian Prime Minister Robert Beugré Mambé, who opened the forum on behalf of his government, called for greater cooperation in managing shared water resources.
He described water governance as a strategic political choice and a pillar of regional stability.
The message was clear: the region cannot effectively manage its water future through isolated national policies.
Climate change changes the equation
Climate change has made the situation more complicated.
West Africa is simultaneously confronting drought, erratic rainfall, flooding, desertification and environmental degradation.
In some communities, farmers face prolonged dry periods that threaten crops and livestock. Elsewhere, sudden and intense rainfall produces devastating floods, damages infrastructure and contaminates water sources.
The challenge is therefore not simply that the region lacks water.
It is also that water is increasingly arriving at the wrong time, in the wrong place, or in forms that communities cannot adequately capture and use.
This is why climate resilience featured prominently in the Abidjan discussions.
Speaking on behalf of ECOWAS Commission President General Birame Diop, Commissioner Amin Amidu Sulemani characterised the forum as a call for collective action to strengthen water security and climate resilience.
The forum’s participants also examined Integrated Water Resources Management, water diplomacy, sustainable financing and transboundary cooperation.
Water, food and energy are tied together
The emerging regional strategy recognises another reality: West Africa’s water crisis cannot be separated from its food and energy challenges.
Agriculture depends heavily on predictable water supplies.
Hydropower depends on river flows.
Cities require reliable water systems as their populations expand.
Industries require water for production.
At the same time, agriculture, mining, industry and poorly managed waste can pollute the very water sources upon which communities depend.
This interconnectedness means that a decision taken in one sector can create problems in another.
The Abidjan forum consequently placed emphasis on an integrated approach to water management, bringing together environmental protection, agriculture, energy, economic development and climate adaptation.
The money question
Yet the regional water agenda faces a major obstacle: financing.
Building dams, irrigation networks, water-treatment facilities, drainage systems, reservoirs and climate-resilient infrastructure requires substantial and sustained investment.
Governments are already under pressure to finance health, education, security, infrastructure and social programmes.
The forum therefore placed sustainable financing among its central concerns.
The challenge will be to move from declarations about the importance of water to financing mechanisms capable of delivering projects on the ground.
That includes strengthening regional institutions, mobilising domestic resources and attracting development partners and private-sector investment.
Data could become as important as water
Another emerging priority is information.
Effective management of shared water resources requires governments to know how much water is available, where it is located, how river levels are changing and how climate patterns are affecting supply.
Reliable data can also help countries prepare for floods and droughts, coordinate dam operations and anticipate pressure on food production.
This makes regional information-sharing an important component of the new water agenda.
The emphasis on cooperation also reflects the recognition that individual countries cannot independently manage the entire lifecycle of transboundary water resources.
Africa’s wider water agenda
The Abidjan forum was also positioned within the broader continental water agenda.
The President of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and Senegalese Minister of Water and Sanitation, Dr Cheikh Tidiane Dièye, linked the meeting to Africa’s preparations for the 2026 United Nations Water Conference.
That gives the West African initiative an international dimension, as the region seeks to consolidate common priorities ahead of global discussions on water security.
The real test begins after Abidjan
The significance of the first FREAO will ultimately be measured not by the number of declarations adopted, but by what happens after delegates leave Abidjan.
The Abidjan Declaration and regional roadmap now provide a common framework. The difficult task will be implementation.
That means finding money for infrastructure, strengthening river-basin organisations, improving data systems, coordinating national policies and developing effective mechanisms for resolving disagreements over shared resources.
Cabo Verde, chosen to host the next edition, will inherit a regional agenda that has moved water closer to the centre of West Africa’s development debate.
For a region facing population growth, climate pressure, environmental degradation and increasing demand for food and energy, the question is no longer simply who has water.
It is increasingly about who controls it, how it is shared, how it is protected and whether countries can cooperate before competition over the resource deepens.
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