A collaborative workshop to address an uncertain future
Cape Town, 27 - 31 May 2019
Background
Achieving and maintaining water security is increasingly challenging under current climatic variability and projected climate change, especially in vulnerable areas such as mountainous and semi-arid regions. Therefore, there is a need to identify pathways to integrate the science-based understanding of climate impacts on water security into mitigation and adaptation policies.
In collaboration with the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Deltares and the Dutch Ministry of Water and Infrastructure, UNESCO and the International Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management have recently published a key publication on the ‘Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA): Collaborative Water Resources Planning for an Uncertain Future’[1]. This CRIDA approach provides guidelines to assess water security vulnerabilities due to climate variability and change, and provides guidance on the development of adaptation pathways for robust water resources management.
Building further on these efforts, CRIDA case studies are needed to demonstrate the versatility of the approach and to adjust the developed tools and methodologies to the local context. Therefore, a capacity building workshop will be developed in Cape Town, Southern Africa, to train key stakeholders on the different aspects of the CRIDA approach and to move towards the identification of potential case studies for demonstrative purposes. The workshop will also serve as a stakeholder meeting to identify the potential for developing two full-scale project proposasl for the region, with one focussed over the Cape Town Area and a second one focussing on the Zambezi River Basin. This is particularly important in a region suffering from severe water insecurity over the last decades, as highlighted by the water shortages threatening the City of Cape Town in April 2018. The evaluation of the use of CRIDA in such a context is therefore highly relevant, and builds further on initial efforts that already started[2].
General and Specific Objectives
The objective of the workshop is to train stakeholders in the Southern African region on the use of the different steps of the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA), and to lay the groundwork for the development of a full project proposal to generate a CRIDA case study in the region.
The specific objectives include:
- Technology transfer on the use of available tools and methodologies to address climate change impacts on water resources
- Evaluate the need to adjust available tools for particular local conditions in Southern Africa
- Identify potential opportunities for CRIDA case studies in the region and assess the conditions for the development of a full pilot project for pilot case studies in the region
Methodology
The training will start with a short overview of the CRIDA approach, refreshing the participants on the different aspects treated in the CRIDA Manual. It continues with a hands-on example through a real-world case study on the application of a climate stress test, to identify the plausibility and impact of climate variability and change on water security in the basin. This will be followed by the assessment of climate change adaptation pathways for the basin and a training on the use of the pathway generator.
A short field visit will be organized to identify the water resource challenges in the Berg River Basin and to reflect on the potential for a CRIDA case study. This will be followed by a discussion session on the way forward, as well as to define the timeline for the development of a full project proposal.
Programme and Presentations
All presentations include a recorded voice of the presenters. You can download the presentations for best performance.
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Day 1 - 27 May |
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09:00 – 09:40 |
Opening Session Chair: Koen Verbist, UNESCO-IHP Welcome and opening address by Robert Kotze, Senior Director Stellenbosh University International Opening remarks by Hubert Gijzen, Regional Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) Opening remarks by Carlton Mukwevho, Secretary General, UNESCO National Commission for South Africa to UNESCO Opening remarks by John Kucharski, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the UNESCO International Center for Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) Opening remarks by Sadie McEvoy, Deltares Opening remarks by Steve Collins, USAID Resilient Waters Programme |
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09:40 -10:00 |
Water and Sustainable Development in Times of Climate Change Introductory Presentation: Hubert Gijzen, Regional Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) |
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10:00 – 10:30 |
Icebreaker and Breakaway Groups Interactive introduction of participants : ‘Vote with your feet’ - Sadie McEvoy, Deltares |
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10:30 – 11:00 |
Coffee Break and Group Photo |
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11:00 – 12:00 |
Breakaway Groups Water security issues in the Berg, Limpopo, Zambezi and Okavango River Basins
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12:00 – 13:00 |
Why CRIDA? Lecture: John Matthews, AGWA Brief Introduction to the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) Lecture: John Kucharski, USACE Q & A |
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13:00 -14:00 |
Lunch |
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14:00 – 15:30 |
Defining the Decision Context - Step 1 of CRIDA Lecture and hands-on exercise: John Kucharski, USACE |
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15:30 – 16:00 |
Coffee Break |
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16:00 – 17:30 |
An example application of CRIDA Lecture: John Kucharski, USACE Introduction to weather generators for climate risk management Lecture and hands-on exercise: John Kucharski, USACE -Exercise material - guidelines -Exercise material – excel sheet |
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Day 2 - 28 May |
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09:00 – 11:00 |
Implementing a Bottom-up Climate Vulnerability Assessment - Step 2 of CRIDA Lecture: Koen Verbist, UNESCO-IHP and John Matthews, AGWA Introduction to Weather Generators for Water Management - Looking into sources of climatic variability Lecture: Koen Verbist, UNESCO-IHP |
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11:00 – 11:30 |
Coffee Break |
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11:30 - 13:00 |
Example Application of a Climate Stress Test Lecture: Koen Verbist, UNESCO-IHP and John Matthews, AGWA |
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13:00 -14:30 |
Lunch |
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14:30 – 16:00 |
Application of a Climate Stress Test to pilot watersheds in Southern Africa Hands-on exercise: Koen Verbist, UNESCO-IHP |
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16:00 – 16:30 |
Coffee Break |
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16:30 – 17:30 |
Application of a Climate Stress Test to pilot watersheds in Southern Africa Hands-on exercise: Koen Verbist, UNESCO-IHP Presentation of results by participant groups (Berg/Breede, Zambezi, Okavango and Limpopo Basins) |
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Day 3 - 29 May |
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09:00 – 11:00 |
Formulating Alternative Plans - Step 3 of CRIDA Lecture on formulating plans under uncertainty & pathways: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares Serious game: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares |
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11:00 – 11:30 |
Coffee Break |
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11:30 – 12:30 |
Using Adaptation Pathways Examples from practice: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares Hands-on tutorial: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares |
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12:30 -14:00 |
Lunch |
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14:00 – 15:30 |
Application of Adaptation Pathways in Breakout Groups Hands-on exercise: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares |
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15:30 – 16:00 |
Coffee Break |
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16:00 – 17:30 |
Wrap-up on Adaptation Pathways Presentation of results by participant groups (Berg/Breede, Zambezi, Okavango and Limpopo Basins) Reflection on comparing pathways: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares Reflection, feedback and questions |
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Day 4 - 30 May |
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09:00 – 11:00 |
Comparing and Recommending Plans - Step 4 of CRIDA Lecture: John Kucharski, USACE Example Application: John Kucharski, USACE |
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11:00 – 11:30 |
Coffee Break |
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11:30 - 12:00 |
Related initiatives and synergies with the CRIDA approach The Climate Risk Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF) |
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12:00 - 13:00 |
Institutionalizing the Decisions - Step 5 of CRIDA Lecture: Sadie McEvoy, Deltares Resilient Water Finance: John Matthews, AGWA |
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13:00 -14:00 |
Departure for Excursion and Box Lunch |
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14:00 – 15:30 |
Visit to the Faure water purification |
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15:30 – 16:00 |
Travel to SPIER |
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16:00 – 17:00 |
Visit to the SPIER farm The Eerste river and the Stellenbosch River Collaborative with Jacques Rossouw |
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17:00 – 17:30 |
Visit site 3 |
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17:30 – 17:50 |
Visit site 4 |
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17:50 – 18:00 |
Travel to dinner venue |
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18:00 – 19:00 |
Presentations on water challenges in the Berg River Basin (15’ each) Co-Go, the Collaborative Governance Network for water security: Charon Büchner-Marais, Stellenbosch University and Eric Leong Son, Manager Sustainability, Distell Group
Cape Town: Response to Zero Day and water scarcity situation: Helen Davies, Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Western Cape Government
Water optimization using the Waterloupe Approach: Jason Mingo, Department Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Western Cape Government |
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19:00 – 21:00 |
Dinner |
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21:00 – 21:30 |
Return to Protea Stellenbosch |
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Day 5 - 31 May |
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09:00 – 11:00 |
Related initiatives and synergies with the CRIDA approach (cont’d) Alexandros Makarigakis, UNESCO-IHP, the Urban Water Security project, in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Korea, the UNESCO international Water Security and Sustainable Management (iWSSM) centre and K-Water John Mathews, AGWA, City Water Resilience Framework, Rockefeller Foundation and ARUP Steve Collins, Chemonics, the USAID Resilient Waters Programme for Southern Africa |
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11:00 – 11:30 |
Coffee Break |
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11:30 - 13:00 |
Break-out Groups Identification of priorities for climate risk assessment and adaptation in the Berg/Breede, Limpopo, Okavango and Zambezi River Basins Funding opportunities for case study development Outline of a draft project outline |
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13:00 -14:30 |
Lunch |
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14:30 – 16:00 |
The way forward Presentation of results from the break-out groups Discussion of the way forward Definition of action lines and timelines |
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16:00 – 16:15 |
Closure of the Workshop |
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16:30 – … |
Departure of Participants |
Profile of the Participants
Participants to this training should have relevant experience on water resources management, either from an academic, public service or private sector background, and have affinity with hydrological modelling. A number of 30-40 participants will be invited to the training. Given the particular focus on the Berg River Basin, Limpopo, Okavango and the Zambezi River Basin, the participants will be selected mainly from those areas.
Venue and Dates
The training is held at Stellenbosch University, in Western Cape, South Africa from 27 to 31 May 2019.
Partners and Funding Support
Participation in this workshop has been made possible and facilitated by the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme. The training programme is part of the CliMWaR project which is focused on Enhancing Climate Services for Improved Water Management and is funded through the Flanders UNESCO Science Trust Fund (FUST). Part of the workshop and several participants have been funded through the USAID Resilient Waters Program. The organizers also want to acknowledge the support from the UNESCO Category 2 Center ICIWaRM to support the facilitators, as well as Deltares for supporting the course development. Finally, the workshop received significant support from the Water Institute at the Stellenbosch University, as well as the secretariat of the NEPAD Water Centers of Excellence, that kindly provided transport for the participants. The contribution of these organizations, partners and funding sources is gratefully acknowledged.
