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Friday, May 29, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
The Southern Africa Water Wire
Q&A: Water Will Be Lifeblood of Smart Urban Expansion
The world's water map is being significantly redrawn due primarily to the mass migration of people into urban centres, threatening one of life's vital resources.
NAMIBIA: No Option but to Adapt to a Changing Climate
Extreme weather conditions predicted because of climate change in Namibia are likely to have a tremendous effect on the 70 percent of the country’s people who live in rural areas and depend heavily on agriculture.Water as Basic Human Right Has a Market Price, Says U.N. Chief
As the 193-member General Assembly commemorates the first anniversary of its landmark resolution pronouncing water and sanitation to be a basic human right, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon triggered a political controversy last week when he implicitly declared that even human rights have a market price.
MALAWI: Water Drives Integrated Agriculture on Small Farm
When the original owners of a 3.5 hectare piece of land put it up for sale because it was too waterlogged to farm on, Diana Sitima and her husband, Wilson, jumped to buy it.
SWAZILAND: Irrigation Waters the Hopes of a New Village
A transboundary water project is reinforcing the fight against food insecurity and poverty along the Komati River which flows through South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.
HEALTH-AFRICA: Improving Sanitation, Still a Long Way to Go
When Callixte Munyabikari, a potato farmer from Gakenke in northern Rwanda, was rushed to a regional hospital after he fell ill with diarrhoea, he thought it was just a bad case of food poisoning.
MALAWI: Women Get Dirty to Stop Water Scarcity
Ethel James cannot wait for the gravity-fed water scheme in her area to be fixed so that she and the other women in her village will no longer have to wake up before dawn everyday to queue for water.ZIMBABWE: Mending the City’s Water Leaks
Thomas Njini is used to working with burst sewers and water pipes. It is a daily experience for him to respond to calls where he has to shovel human waste to clear blocked sewers. It is a job he continues to do with unenviable dedication in this city of two million people.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Majority Still Lack Access to Safe Water
Only two in every five people in the Southern African Development Community has access to safe water for drinking and household use. Three quarters of those lacking access, live in rural areas and the majority of these are women and children.
SOUTH AFRICA: Scientists Find Green Method to Purify Toxic Water
South African scientists have developed an environmentally friendly method to clean highly toxic water and convert it into drinkable water. Once available commercially, the method could drastically reduce the negative impact industry has on water pollution worldwide.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Trying to Access Funding for Climate Change
Leaving out non-governmental organisations in climate finance strategies will result in little impact on the ground in the southern Africa region.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Water Sources Need to be Protected
Seventy-five-year-old Verdiana Protas is worried that the 20 cattle she bought with her pension money will soon die because the 10-kilometre-long river in her village in northwest Tanzania has been dry for two years now and finding alternative sources of water is getting more and more difficult.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Getting Water to the People
The Southern African region is underutilising its water – a resource to which its citizens already have limited access.
ZIMBABWE: Harvesting Water for Food Security
Earth mounds running across her field hold back the water that Caroline Ndlovu uses to grow maize, pumpkins, beans and watermelons long after the short rainy season in this arid part of Zimbabwe.
DR CONGO: Water Shortages Grip the Capital
In recent months, no one in the Congolese capital has been spared the effects of water shortages. Where spending entire days criss-crossing Kinshasa in search of water with battered containers in hand was previously the unhappy task of women and children, now men in suits have joined the fray.MALAWI: Power Interconnection Project Costly but Needed
In Malawi’s administrative and commercial capitals, Lilongwe and Blantyre, two things are clear, especially at night: blackouts and the sound of generators in various workplaces.
DEVELOPMENT: Chinese Step In, Efficiently
For Jany Chen from Shanghai, concern often-raised in Europe and North America about the Chinese invasion of Africa is a lot of wasteful talk that deserves to be flushed down the toilet. Efficiently.
DEVELOPMENT: Women Demand Access to Water and Energy
"Women in LDCs bear the brunt of economic and social hardships," said Wubitu Hailu, managing director of an Ethiopian NGO, the Kulich Youth Reproductive Health and Development Organisation. The failure to provide access to basic services like clean water and electricity is a major factor preventing women from realising their full potential.DEVELOPMENT: Swazi Village Tastes Sweet Success with Sugarcane
The previously impoverished community of Malibeni, previously ravaged by drought, is bustling with farmers who have transformed the area into a bread basket. Lush green fields of sugarcane and vegetables have replaced an expanse of dry shrubs near this community in northeastern Swaziland.WATER-SOUTH AFRICA: Managing Flooding on the Orange River
Many farms and crops were devastated when the January floods hit South Africa at the start of this year. Farmer organisation Agri South Africa (AgriSa) estimated damages as high as 270 million dollars.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Assessing the True Value of Water
As water resources in Southern Africa come under pressure from growing population, climate change and increasing industrial and agricultural use, economic accounting for water is among the tools that could aid better management.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The Southern Africa Water Wire provides in-depth coverage of a diverse range of water-related issues in Africa, linking water to economic development, social well-being and environmental protection. Local journalists from across the continent explore the challenges, failures and successes of managing this vital resource.
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