Abstract
As river basin authorities and national governments develop policies to achieve sustainable development outcomes, conflicting signals between existing policies are undermining cross-thematic integrative modes of policy planning. This raises fundamental questions over how coherent portfolios of policy interventions across vital themes can best be advanced and managed. Taking the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) as an empirical example, we analyse transboundary policies and intervention documents relating to climate adaptation, water governance and conflict management to ascertain the interdependencies at the adaptation-water-peace nexus. Using a Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) approach and a set of subjective integration scoring criteria, we assess whether and how integration is planned, setting out ways forward for mutually beneficial integration actions. Despite recent progress in addressing lake drying and recognising cross-thematic challenges, most LCB intervention plans continue to adopt standalone basin-scale agendas and seldom consider action plan preparedness based on local-level assessments. Analysis of a few (existing) cross-thematic, well-integrated initiatives indicates that the timings of societal challenges and funding arrangements appear to play a key role in shaping policy strategies, the manner in which climate adaptation, water or security are treated and the level of integration attained. Based on the notion that integration is inherently desirable, we suggest a new ‘policy integration thinking’ that embraces a development landscape logic and balances short-term and long-term development priorities.
Highlights
Water is a medium through which societies in lake riparian zones will experience climate impacts, as well as lake drying and conflict challenges (Rast, 2014; Dinar et al, 2015)
The diagnostic study formed the basis for four key policy initiatives undertaken by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) since the early 1990s: the Vision 2025 for the sustainable development of the Lake Chad Basin (LCB), the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the reversal of land and water degradation trends in the LCB ecosystem, the LCB Water Charter and the initiative on Water Transfer from the Congo basin via the Ubangi River to the LCB
Seven of the twelve documents analysed made explicit inter-thematic linkages. These include: three documents focusing on water and security/conflict issues, two documents addressing climate adaptation and water issues (i.e. PRODEBALT and the initiative on strengthening climate information and early warning systems (EWS) for climate resilient development) and two documents focusing on adaptation, water and security/conflict issues (i.e. PRESIBALT and the LCDAP)
Summary
Water is a medium through which societies in lake riparian zones will experience climate impacts, as well as lake drying and conflict challenges (Rast, 2014; Dinar et al, 2015). Water action, peace action and climate action need to move together to engender social stability in transboundary lake regions (Gustafsson, 2016) This justifies why the integration of climate adaptation, water governance and conflict management in conflict-prone settings is incorporated within progressive discourses of international environment and development agendas (Ludwig et al, 2011). The approach presupposes that the LCBC’s action plans and policies reflect integration espoused at the international level at least in the past decade (i.e. the period conflicts increased markedly across the region) This is because the LCBC, by its mandates, is aware of the various manifestations of environmental hardship and contentions across the basin’s riparian zones and is supported by the riparian states and development/donor agencies to integrate cross-thematic issues and pursue developmental objectives
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