Buzi, Pungwe, Save Tri-Basin Project

Introduction

Mozambique and Zimbabwe share at least five river basins (or sub-basins), namely Limpopo, Zambezi, Buzi, Pungwe and Save. The Buzi, Pungwe and Save basins are exclusively shared by the two countries and drain into the Indian Ocean. Cooperation in the Buzi, Pungwe and Save River basins is driven by water resources planning, development and management projects which require the two countries to cooperate. Mozambique and Zimbabwe, in managing shared river basins, are guided by the Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), signed in 2000 with the objective of fostering closer cooperation for judicious, sustainable and coordinated management, protection and utilization of the shared watercourses, and to advance the SADC agenda on regional integration and poverty alleviation. The Protocol entered into force in 2003 and calls for the need to establish river basin institutions, such as river basin commissions, joint water commissions and water sharing agreements.

The Buzi, Pungwe, Save Tri-Basin Project

In 2016, Mozambique and Zimbabwe signed the Pungwe Basin Water Sharing Agreement to institutionalize transboundary water management in the Pungwe Basin. Adoption of the Pungwe Basin Water Sharing Agreement paves the way for the establishment of a bilateral institution that will be responsible for the implementation of the Bilateral Agreement on the Pungwe Basin. However, there are serious considerations to bring the Buzi, Pungwe and Save basins under one transboundary water management institution, forming a tri-basin organization.

Project Objective Key

The objective of the Buzi, Pungwe and Save (BUPUSA) Tri-basin Project was to support a bridging phase that strengthens cooperation and institution building in the Buzi, Pungwe and Save river basins. The project mainly focused on supporting the ongoing negotiations on the Buzi and Save River Basin Water Sharing Agreements, and the establishment of the BUPUSA Tri-basin Institution.

Implementation arrangement

This initiative by the governments of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, supported by the SADC Directorate of Infrastructure and Services, Water Division, was implemented for approximately one year (starting in November 2018) and managed through a Grant Agreement between GIZ and GWPSA.  The project was supported financially by GIZ, German Cooperation and UKAID.

The project was managed by GWPSA on behalf of the ministries responsible for water resources in the governments of Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

More details: https://www.gwp.org/en/GWP-SouthernAfrica/