Adaptive Capacity

In my previous blog post, I mentioned the concept of adaptive capacity and how different maps of water scarcity in Africa had different meanings and limitations.

Figure 1: Two differing water scarcity maps of Africa (Damkjaer and Taylor 2017).

LEFT – Falkenmark Indicator

RIGHT - Physical and economic water scarcity

The map on the left in Figure 1 could be argued to be less meaningful than the map on the right, as the latter incorporates the concept of adaptive capacity. If the country will not be able to meet future demands, having considered its adaptive capacity, and it currently withdraws more than 75% of river discharge for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes, it is said to be physically scarce (Damkjaer and Taylor 2017). Economic water scarcity is when a country actually has an adequate source of water but the local population are unable to access it due to a lack of infrastructure investment or corruption (Liu et al. 2017). I find the concept of economic water scarcity disturbing as the water is there but it is unable to be accessed. I hope you can now see why the Falkenmark Indicator in Figure 1 distorts the story in Africa; even though areas stretching from the Sahel regions to central Africa have over 1700 cubic metres per capita per year (defined as no stress), the map hides more disturbing problems in countries such as Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Remarkably, one category is entirely missing from the key in the physical and economic water scarcity map in Figure 1. In an international context as shown by Figure 2, many countries in the developing world have ‘little or no water scarcity’ where less than 25% of water from rivers are withdrawn (Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture 2007). Even though the Brandt line is an outdated concept, it is evident in Figure 2 with the exception of South America. 

Figure 2: Physical and economic water scarcity internationally (Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture 2007)

Up until this point, I have endeavoured to unpack and decipher the complex story of Africa’s water struggle which has impacted its food security, especially in the ever more complex threat from climate change. In subsequent blog posts, I will be exploring the numerous options to improve Africa’s adaptive capacity.

List of References

Damkjaer, S. and R. G. Taylor (2017) ‘The measurement of water scarcity: defining a meaningful indicator’, Ambio, 46, 513-531.

Liu, J., H. Yang and S. N. Gosling and M. Kummu and M. Flörke, S. Pfister, ... and Alcamo, J. (2017) ‘Water scarcity assessments in the past, present and future’, Earth's Future, 5, 6, 545-559.

Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (2007) Water for Food, Water for Life: A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, London: Earthscan, and Colombo: International Water Management Institute.