IWRM-GEF Project

Water scarcity is a serious threat to Somalia and is hindering the country’s economic and social development.1 Throughout Somalia, trends of reduced surface water and groundwater reserves and increased occurrences of droughts and floods have been observed and are predicted to worsen.2 In response, the proposed LDCF-financed project directly supports integrated water resources development and management for over 350,000 agro-pastoralists across Somalia. The development of a multi-sectorial Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Strategy as well as technical and operational capacity building will support Somalia in planning sustainable water resources development schemes for all states down to local levels, particularly for states that formed as recently as 2015 and 2016. Investments in monitoring infrastructure will provide critical data for early warning dissemination in both arid regions and in key river basins to improve water resources management and contingency planning for agro-pastoralists, including nomadic pastoralists. Water mobilization from a diversified source of groundwater and surface water sources as well as construction of water diversion infrastructure will promote rural water supply and increased resilience in flood prone areas. Rural population’s resilience will be further enforced by enabling them to exploit their agro-pastoral value chains and increase their asset bases.