From Trees to Taps

This post is written in response to Water Funds: Priming the corporate pump? by Fred Pearce

A Public-Private Partnership for Sustainable Source Water Conservation

Standstill traffic jams are a daily occurrence now in Nairobi. My hometown’s population has more than tripled in the last 25 years and the infrastructure has not been able to keep pace with this rapid growth. While the number of cars on the road is a clear indicator of this imbalance, the bigger problem is that at least 60 percent of Nairobi’s residents do not have access to a consistent, reliable water supply.

 

Water affects everything and everyone, and in ways that might not be obvious at first glance. For example, very few schools in Nairobi have access to tap water. Sometimes when the schools don’t have water, the students just don’t show up. What does that mean for the economic future of the city?

The Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund is our vision for a healthy watershed that can improve the quantity and quality of water for the Nairobi area’s 9 million residents.

What Is a Water Fund?

Water funds are founded on the principle that it is more effective to prevent water problems at the source than it is to address them further downstream. In short: Water consumers and donors downstream contribute to support watershed management, farming systems improvement and appropriate infrastructure development upstream in the Upper Tana watershed, resulting in improved water quality and supply.

The Upper-Tana Nairobi Water Fund was officially “launched” at an event in Nairobi this March. The successful event was the culmination of more than two years of work, including conducting scientific studies on hydrological status, developing economic studies, meeting with hundreds of landowners and working to secure $10 million in capital investment.

Standing in front of a large audience of stakeholders, partners and journalists, I felt the wind in my sails. It almost felt like the hard part was over. But in reality, we are just at the beginning of our journey toward creating a sustainable water balance.

And the future of Nairobi depends on it.

Who Is Helping?

Since this is a problem that affects everyone, it’s important that everyone be part of the solution. The Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund is the first public-private partnership of its kind in Africa, and it brings together like-minded public, private and civil society entities. It’s completely Kenyan-owned and Kenyan-driven.

Engaging water users upstream and downstream is crucial to the success of a water fund. The upstream communities are the land managers and custodians of the watershed who depend on its functioning for their sustenance.

Our partners, like the Kenya Farmers Federation and the Green Belt Movement, are working side-by-side with 5,000 farmers in the Upper Tana watershed, with a target of 17,000. We are advancing an ambitious land treatment and water system management plan based on a ridge-to-ridge land and riparian system restoration framework in target watersheds. Conservation measures included in this framework include land terracing for reduced sedimentation runoff and planting up to 100,000 new trees.

Many of these land owners are already benefitting from improved land management techniques, improved technology and improved productivity. The Fund will eventually include a component of payment for the ecosystem services their land provides.

Downstream users, on the other hand, understand that their operations and businesses are entirely dependent on a reliable, clean water supply. Their contributions to conservation of the watershed will not only help their bottom line, but it will benefit all other water users as well.

What’s Next?

Now that we have paved the way, we must lay the foundation.

Our immediate next steps include:

1. Facilitate the registration of the independent water fund entity and put into place a management structure
2. Development of a strategy to execute our ambitious agenda
3. Raise both public and private capital for immediate needs and for the long-term endowment of the fund.

Our work is far from done. At a time when water is more expensive than fuel for the majority; when more valuable topsoil is washed away in Noachian proportions; and when available science predicts radical shifts in climate, there is little scope left for debate and conjecture.

This situation calls for strategic and evidence-based actions that connect people, nature and the economy at a transformative scale. The Water Fund presents a platform for participatory and forward-leaning source water conservation investment and is predicated on partnership, innovative mobilization of domestic and global capital and accountability.

The Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund is a vision for a green belt of green infrastructure across this important watershed over the next 30 years. Maybe then I can stand in front of an audience of fellow Kenyans and truly breathe a sigh of relief.