Africa: Call for More Investment in Water
26 April 2012
allAfrica.com - 24 April 2012
SUB-Saharan African countries including Tanzania need to revisit their water policies and invest heavily in the sector.
Zanzibar President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein said in Dar es Salaam on Monday that increased agricultural and industrial activities, as well as effects of climate change were challenges to many African countries.
In a speech at the opening of the International Conference on Water Science, Policy and Management, he called for Africa to review their policies to realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the sector. "Unfortunately, the freshwater situation is not encouraging with estimates showing more than 300 million people on the continent facing serious shortage of water.
"The amount of freshwater available for each person in Africa is about one-quarter of what it was in 1950s," he said. In the speech read on his behalf by the Zanzibar Second Vice-President Ambassador Seif Ali Idd, Dr Shein said collective efforts were crucial in meeting water challenges globally.
Category: Water