The Minister in charge of Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, has appealed to policy and decision makers, scientists, researchers and all stakeholders to raise awareness on water resource availability and variability. He made the appeal on Wednesday while closing a two-day workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management,” (IWRM) at Hotel Novotel.

"It is well known that wise management of water resources can ease environmental disasters, water related diseases and reduce hunger and poverty. If done, this can also create more peace and cooperation among countries sharing common water resources,” Kamanzi said.

The workshop which brought together representatives from all the nine countries in the Nile Basin, was conducted through country report presentations on the status of IWRM implementation for each country within the Nile basin.

The objective was to deeply analyse the barriers that affect the implementation of IWRM in the Nile Basin countries and to share experiences from different countries.

During the workshop, representatives came up with recommendations on how the identified barriers can be overcome to achieve a sustainable water resources management within countries of the Nile basin.

The Regional Project Manager for the Nile Basin Initiative, Canissius Kanamugire, told participants that although the Nile Basin countries are committed and have worked hand-in-hand to tackle the many challenges on water resources, various issues still needed to be addressed.

"It requires more than money to eradicate hunger poverty and disease in the diverse Nile Basin. The utilisation and management of water resources constitute one of the major factors of increasing production and growth in this region,” Kanamugire said.

He added that the assessment made more than five years ago showed that the Nile basin lacked capacity to manage water resources in an integrated manner.

"We need to sustain and enhance capacity building in relevant areas and to devise efficient ways of doing it with well-trained and skilled professionals,” he added.

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