Winner of the International ReSource Award for sustainable watershed management 2007
A rainwater harvesting project in southern Ethiopia has won the 2007 International ReSource Award for Sustainable Watershed Management. The winning contestant has been granted USD 50 000 to implement the pilot project submitted for the award, with an additional USD 30 000 to be paid for scaling up the project upon successful completion of the pilot. The runner-up, a project based in Jamaica, received USD 70 000.
The organisation in charge of the project entitled “Water harvesting to improve livelihoods: from pilots to mainstream” aims to improve water availability for household activities and productive use, such as small-scale agriculture, food processing, livestock, sanitation and small-scale businesses. The project is also designed to ensure long-term access to safe drinking water for rural communities, and to strengthen local implementation and management capacity for water harvesting. The project is located in the Borana zone of southern Ethiopia, some 600 km from Addis Abeba.
Ivo Menzinger, Head of Sustainability & Emerging Risk Management at Swiss Re and Chairman of the International ReSource Award Jury, comments: “The project distinguishes itself through a straightforward and proven technology which actively involves the various stakeholder groups and thus creates strong emotional ties and local support. It is cost efficient and improves water supply in terms of both hygiene and quantity for some 2000 local inhabitants.”
The projected overall cost of the pilot submitted for the award is USD 137 000, for which PLAN Netherlands (www.plan-international.org/about/work/) and Aqua for All (www.aquaforall.nl/) have offered co-funding support. Another USD 17 000 is provided as payment in kind by local communities. The winning project is supported by four locally represented development organisations which are widely accepted, have different competencies and focus on different regions. This has a favourable effect on both the viability and the replication of the project’s approach.
With this award, the jury demonstrates its support for efforts to mainstream water harvesting to relevant governmental and non-governmental parties, to catalyse further implementation within the region and ultimately to influence government water supply and management policy.
Eliminating river poisoning in Jamaica’s Rio Grande Valley
A second award of USD 70 000 was donated to The Nature Conservancy for a project located in Jamaica’s Rio Grande valley. The project aims to significantly reduce the use of illegal poisoning agents to harvest fish, shrimp and crayfish in Rio Grande valley, threatening human health and rural livelihood in the region. The Nature Conservancy wants to eliminate these insustainable inland fishing practices by the end of 2008, by educating the local communities on the dangers of river poisoning, mobilizing them to safeguard their own rivers and by promoting sustainable and viable alternative fishing methods.
