Water Resource Management and the Changing Climate in Angola's Coastal Settlements

Because of the 30-year climate information-gap, the project explored alternative resources for reconstructing the lost data, including historical meteorological records, media and newspaper archives, and the memories of community elders. Earlier IDRC-supported research on water markets provided background information, such as the value of the informal water economy, which surpassed US$250 million annually.

The research project drew on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and used participatory research methods and satellite imagery to map areas and communities at risk. The idea is that budgeting for water and sanitation infrastructure, for example, is most adapted to real needs when planned with community participation, especially in the initial collection of data and validation of results. Remote sensing tools were combined with on-the-ground household surveys and focus group discussions to validate the data. Five thousand interviews were conducted in the coastal cities of Cabinda (1,500), Luanda (2,500) and the twin cities of Benguela/Lobito (1,000). Oral histories from victims of flooding and sea-level rise provided useful lessons on the aftermath and impact on family livelihoods. Municipal administrations and the Urban Poverty Network (a civil society organisation) participated in the field work. The team collected - via satellite images, for instance - the information required to establish a map of the risks challenging the coastal areas of Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela, and Lobito, 4 densely populated cities. On behalf of the residents, the team delegated dozens of investigators equipped with tablet computers to gather information. Detailed maps of conditions in the field were thus established for each sector. For example, the investigators took a survey of the cities' sources of potable water to determine exactly where new water supply systems should be installed. The idea is that, once they know more about the flood-risk sectors, the authorities will also be able to properly regulate the construction of new buildings.

Information on environmental issues was extracted from the local media (i.e., the public, independent and community media) and archived. Data on records of sea surges, which identify the areas that are vulnerable to the effects of high tides and high waves (and when), were used to map risks from higher sea levels while information on incidents of flooding and erosion in urban areas were extracted and used as inputs into environmental risk maps. The maps that display data on important variables were then overlaid to gain more insights into the relationships and interactions between key variables such as measures of environmental risk (inundation, slope, etc.), socio-economic vulnerability (settlement typology and poverty levels), and population density. The project produced mapped information in a form usable by urban planners. For example, in April and May 2015, the team was able to warn the populations of Benguela and Lobito about floods that were going to occur. This allowed for the evacuation of hundreds of families.

Angola's Ministry of Environment and the National Institute of Water Resources are joint project partners and owners of the data. Data from the project were used to produce 3 monographs, 2 journal articles, 1 policy brief, 1 workshop report, 15 presentations for conferences and meetings, and 5 media dossiers. In compliance with the requirements of the IDRC Open Access Policy, all Water & Changing Climate in Angola's Coastal Settlements project outputs have been posted in the DW website. This site is accessible to the general public, and materials can be downloaded for free. All other project outputs that will subsequently be completed shall likewise be posted in the same location.

As part of the project, DW together with the Ministry of Water & Energy developed a model of community-based water governance as a remedial tool for incorporation into the "National Water for All" programme which was adopted as national policy and is being rolled out in municipalities across the country. Building on its research and evidence-based demonstration work with communities on service provision, DW developed a strategy of community management of local water standposts that involved the election of water caretakers by consumers and the creation of legally constituted water associations that collected user fees, managed maintenance, and bought water in bulk from the parastatal provincial water companies. DW and the Ministry tested this model of water governance in Luanda and several other provinces and proposed it as a remedial tool for incorporation into the "Water for All" programme. In late February 2014, the Secretary of State for Water announced that the community water model (Modelo de Gestão Comunitária de Água - MoGeCA) was adopted as national policy, and the training manual developed by DW was distributed to municipalities across the country. In addition, the African Development Bank with the National Water Directorate engaged DW along with the Canadian company CoWater International to develop the post-2015, 10-year strategy for sustainable community water to be piloted in provinces across the country. The programme will draw on the evaluation of the Water for All experience and incorporate the water governance lessons from the community management model.

According to the researchers, in 3 municipalities of Luanda, participatory methods developed by the project have contributed to improved water governance, resulting in significant changes in the management of public water points, widening access to clean water and reducing water costs by 90% (from US$0.50 to $0.05 per bucket). The Angolan government has replicated the community management model across the country, ensuring that ongoing maintenance is financed by locally elected committees who collect fees for services and promote hygiene and basic sanitation. Risk maps produced by the project are increasingly used by municipal planners. A basis for participatory consultation has been laid, with the help of data collected through the work of local civil society organisations. The provision of validated data in an easily understood, mapped form provides a basis for dialogue on how settlements can be adapted to meet climatic risks, without resorting to the wholesale removal and demolition of existing communities. Community-based actions include the removal of rubbish and regular maintenance of drainage channels and the greening of the banks of intermittent water-courses to prevent flash flooding. Risk maps help city planners in preventing the expansion of coastal cities into environmentally risky areas, and also help identify where remedial actions are necessary in the existing settlements.

Furthermore, on April 15 2016, the government of the province of Luanda adopted one of the project's key policy recommendations on raising sustainable local government financing for rubbish management through local service charges, rather than depending on subsidies from the dwindling state central budget. This will create an autonomous, local-level financing mechanism for sanitation (i.e., rubbish collection) by cross-financing on municipal service bills (for electricity). A more efficient rubbish collection service is essential for Municipal Adaptation Planning in that it will help keep drainage channels open, thereby greatly reducing the risk of flooding.

During the course of the project, through a series of workshops, research capacity was strengthened to better inform climate risk analysis and policy development. Linkages were established with the Research Centre of the Catholic University, the Faculty of Science at the Augustinho Neto University, and the Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Studies at the Methodist University. Each year of the project, 4 university students were recruited as interns in the research team. They participated in various project activities such as rooftop counting for population estimates, media monitoring, mapping of water and drainage channels, and field research (e.g., interviewing respondents in the relevant research areas). An interrelated component of the project approach involved establishing strong working relationships with relevant institutions at the local, national, and international levels. For example, linkages were established with the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG) at the University of Cape Town, which made it possible for a staff member from a partner institution, CETAC (Centre for Tropical Ecology and Climate Change in Huambo Angola) to attend a July 2014 course. The project created a close partnership with the government-funded Centre for Tropical Environment and Climate Adaptation (CETAC) in Huambo; they subsequently took on the task of assisting in disseminating the findings of the project.

Environment, Natural Resource Management

According to organisers, urban adaptation strategies need to be further developed using the findings from this research. They can influence government policy options in the following ways:

• Resettlement, either post or pre-disaster, involves removing families from high-risk areas by either enticement or compulsion. This has been common in Angola in the past but sometimes executed in ways that violate residents' socio-economic rights. Participatory resettlement approaches need to be developed.
• Urban requalification (renewal) implies temporary dislocation of families from risk areas to allow site and infrastructure improvements to be made before allowing them to reoccupy the same site or neighbourhood. Land readjustment policies must ensure that the benefits, including increased land values, are shared by all, including residents, government, and private developers.
• Urban upgrading is a participatory process that involves communities in adaptation through a combination of external resources and their own.
• Participatory municipal planning approaches need to be researched and tested for the community to contribute to the adaptation process and explore other alternatives for dealing with climate change variability.

"Development Workshop's experience in Angola illustrates that research and evidence based policy advocacy is an effective long term development strategy that can achieve outcomes at a national scale." - Allan Cain