Zambezi Watercourse Commission
| Zambezi Watercourse Commission ZAMCOM |
|
|---|---|
| English name | Zambezi Watercourse Commission |
| Portuguese | Comissão do Curso de Água do Zambeze |
| Seat of the organs |
Harare , Zimbabwe
|
| Member States | |
| Official and working languages | |
| founding |
2004 |
| zambezicommission.org | |
The Zambezi Watercourse Commission , abbreviated to ZAMCOM ( Portuguese Comissão do Curso de Água do Zambeze ; German for example: "Zambezi Watercourse Commission") is a transnational organization of eight African states, on their territory the Zambezi or the tributaries of its catchment area ( Zambezi River Basin ). A multilateral agreement in 2004 resulted in their formal establishment. The participating states are Angola , Botswana , Malawi , Mozambique , Namibia , Zambia , Zimbabwe and Tanzania . The organization is based in Harare (Zimbabwe).
history
The Zambezi River Action Plan (ZACPLAN) was adopted in 1987 by the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), the predecessor of the SADC . The purpose of this was to achieve environmentally friendly planning and joint control of water use in the Zambezi water system.
The founding resolution for the Zambezi Watercourse Commission , based on the SADC Protocol on Shared Watercources of 2000 , was created in 2004 during negotiations in Windhoek (Namibia) through the ZAMCOM Agreement ( Agreement on the Establishment of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission ). However, their actual establishment could only be put into practice after the ratification of this state treaty by 6 participating states in June 2011.
tasks
The core of the activities of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission is the promotion of a fair and pragmatic use of the water resources of the Zambezi System as well as their efficient management and sustainable development. A common water management strategy for the river basin and catchment area as well as the coordination of national water policies among the member states is based on this.
Regional importance
The Zambezi River System ( Zambezi River Basin ) is the fourth largest catchment area of a river in Africa and the largest in the SADC group. It covers an area of 1.37 million square kilometers. This mainly affects the territories of Malawi and Zambia, around half of Zimbabwe and larger areas of Angola and Mozambique. Only smaller areas of Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania also belong to the Zambezi river system.
Almost 75 percent of the land area of the Zambezi system is covered with forests and bush savannahs. Agricultural areas (mainly rain-fed crops ) make up 13 percent and grassland around 8 percent. The remaining 4 percent are wasteland or are used for infrastructure facilities. Within the catchment area there are extensive plains that are floodplains or permanent wetlands , a large number of them have achieved international importance and are protected as Ramsar areas.
The most important institutions with water policy interests in the Zambezi system are, besides the participating states, the SADC Water Division , the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) and the Mozambican ARA-Zambeze ( Administração Regional de Águas do Zambeze ).
Energy production with hydropower is an important sector in the Zambezi system. A number of hydropower plants are run-of-river power plants with only a small reservoir or an inlet dam. Other hydropower plants have a reservoir with a storage capacity to store water from the rainy season to the dry season.
The generation of energy by the hydropower plants is associated with an evaporation loss from the reservoirs, which amounts to around 17 cubic kilometers and is by far the largest water consumption in the catchment area. The evaporation volume is led by the Kariba Dam , which causes more than half of all evaporation, and followed by the Cahora-Bassa Dam , which reaches nearly 35 percent. The largest reservoirs in the Zambezi system are those of Kariba, Cahora Bassa and Itezhi-Tezhi .
Organizational structure
The Zambezi Watercourse Commission has a three-tier administrative structure:
- Council of Ministers ,
- Technical Committee ,
- Executive Secretary .
literature
- Euroconsult Mott MacDonald: Integrated Water Resources Management Strategy and Implementation Plan for the Zambezi River Basin . On behalf of: Southern Africa Development Community - Water Division (SADC-WD), Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Norwegian Embassy Lusaka. April 2008
Web links
- Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) . on www.zambezicommission.org (English, Portuguese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b ZAMCOM: About ZAMCOM . on www.zambezicommission.org (English, Portuguese)
- ↑ ZAMCOM: ZAMCOM History . on www.zambezicommission.org (English, Portuguese)
- ↑ ZAMCOM: Agreement on the Establishment of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission . at www.zambezicommission.org (English)
- ^ Mott MacDonald: Management Strategy and Implementation Plan . P. 7 (PDF document p. 25, English)
- ^ Mott MacDonald: Management Strategy and Implementation Plan . P. 11 (PDF document p. 29, English)
- ↑ ARA Zambeze: Administração Regional de Águas do Zambeze . on www.arazambeze.gov.mz (Portuguese)
- ^ A b Mott MacDonald: Management Strategy and Implementation Plan . P. 14 (PDF document p. 32, English)
Coordinates: 17 ° 49 ′ 30.4 ″ S , 31 ° 3 ′ 16.6 ″ E