Addressing water security challenges under uncertain futures

Summary

Addis Ababa city is experiencing rapid urbanisation and population growth. Rapid development and climate change impacts are outpacing the implementation of water management plans to address complex water issues like transboundary water allocation, water scarcity, flooding in the Akaki River, insufficient wastewater treatment, and water-borne health issues.

Such interlinked and compounding factors affect water security and require diverse stakeholders to come together and identify feasible and acceptable adaptation strategies.

Through the ARA-funded Addis Ababa Adaptation Network, led by the Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority, we are connecting stakeholders and creating favourable conditions to sustain a network that will collaborate and coordinate to address risks and enhance water security.

Stakeholders will co-produce knowledge about the system, identify changing risks, and co-create adaptation strategies during a co-production workshop. They will coordinate efforts to co-design and implement such strategies and will identify research needs that enable adaptation action. South-south and north-south knowledge exchanges through webinars will help the network learn from global experiences and support the city’s water supply and sewerage authority to tackle the water security issues of Addis Ababa.