When
Thursday 10 December 2026
12:00 to 13:15 GST (UTC+4)
Where
Room 6, UN Blue Zone
ADNEC, Abu Dhabi
Format
Side event ID205, 75 minutes
In person, accredited participants
Languages
English
Conference dialogue
Interactive Dialogue D:
Water for cooperation

Accelerating IWRM and Transboundary Cooperation in African Basins Should be part of Development and Climate Adaptation Planning

Basin organisations, researchers and partners show how shared data, digital water solutions and climate services can turn cooperation on Africa's shared rivers and aquifers into shared benefits.

Africa's transboundary basins hold much of the continent's water, energy and food potential, yet cooperation often stops at exchanging data and plans. This session brings the Volta, Niger, Senegal and Nile basin organisations together with the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW), researchers and development partners to ask what it takes to go further: to operate jointly and share the benefits, from reliable hydropower and food production to flood safety and stability. Short talks from real cases open the debate, the room takes sides on contested statements, and each partner leaves with one concrete commitment.

Illustration of a river network with linked monitoring stations

Shared data builds trust

Cooperation starts when riparian states see the same evidence on water, climate and use, and when monitoring keeps running after projects end.

Illustration of a river flow record with a forecast and its uncertainty

Research must shape planning and operational decisions

Models, forecasts and digital twins matter when they inform how reservoirs, floods and aquifers are actually managed.

Illustration of a river crossing a border, with a reservoir serving both sides

Cooperation creates shared benefits

Basins that operate together deliver energy, food, flood safety and stability, and a share of those benefits can pay for the monitoring cooperation depends on.

Who you will hear from

  • Lamine Baba SyDirector, Water DepartmentSahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), for ANBOModerator
  • Edo AbrahamAssociate ProfessorTU DelftSpeaker and facilitator
  • Moctar DembéléInternational Water Management Institute (IWMI)Speaker
  • Rafatou FofanaVolta Basin AuthoritySpeaker
  • Nelson GomondaActing Executive SecretaryAfrican Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW)Discussant
  • Kocou Armand HouanyeExecutive SecretaryNiger Basin AuthorityDiscussant
  • Maha Abdelraheem IsmailHead of GroundwaterNile Basin InitiativeDiscussant
  • Katrien Van HooydonkInternationalisation lead, Water4All PartnershipVITODiscussant

High-level participation is expected from the heads of the Volta Basin Authority and the Nile Basin Initiative, AMCOW, the Secretary General of the Senegal River Development Organization (OMVS) and the Executive Secretary of OSS. More speakers to be announced.

Organisations taking part

Convened by OSS on behalf of ANBO, with IWMI and TU Delft (marked in gold).

  • OSSSahara and Sahel Observatory, convening on behalf of ANBO
  • ANBOAfrican Network of Basin Organizations
  • IWMIInternational Water Management Institute, CGIAR
  • TU DelftDelft University of Technology
  • AMCOWAfrican Ministers' Council on Water
  • VBAVolta Basin Authority
  • NBANiger Basin Authority
  • OMVSSenegal River Development Organization
  • NBINile Basin Initiative
  • VITOFlemish Institute for Technological Research

Attending

The session takes place in the UN Blue Zone, which is open to accredited conference participants. It is in person only, with no online participation. A short brief on the outcomes and commitments will be posted on this page after the conference.

Add to calendarAbout the conference

Questions about the session: Lamine Baba Sy, OSS (lamine.babasy@oss.org.tn) and Edo Abraham, TU Delft (e.abraham@tudelft.nl). Please write to the organisers rather than the UN Water Secretariat, which does not answer questions about side events.

TU Delft's contribution draws on EPIC Africa, funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme.