News Source: The Citizen

Arusha, April, 21, 2016 – Climate change and over exploitation of water resources is challenging the sustainability of the Pangani River Basin to deliver the precious liquid to consumers. Competition for diminishing water resources has led to tensions between various stakeholders within the basin.

The regional authorities, development partners and stakeholders have responded to this crisis by launching a special project to tackle it. It was launched at the end of a three-day water stewardship leadership forum which ended here on Tuesday. Dubbed Kilimanjaro Water Stewardship Platform, the multi-stakeholders project is a catalyst for improved collaboration between the business community, the government and civil societies to improve water security in the region.

The forum brought together experts on water stewardship from various countries around the continent, government officials, civil societies and other stakeholders who dis-cussed how water can be better man-aged to secure inclusive economic growth, and the role of stewardship in business strategies and operations. According to the organizers, the newly launched project will provide public institutions and civil societies with a mechanism to develop, coordinate and scale up solutions to tackle the spiraling water resource challenges in Pangani River basin.

The Kilimanjaro Water Steward-ship Platform was formally launched by the minister for Water and Irrigation, Mr Gerson Lwenge. Also in attendance was Mr Anders Berntell, the executive director of the 2030 Water Resources Group (2030 WRG). The platform is designed to pro-mote practical solutions in areas such as increasing the productivity of water use in agriculture, developing and scaling up partnerships for improved catchment management, and promoting the uptake of the AWS stewardship standards.

At least 20 organizations have so far shown interest to join forces with the government in the crucial under-taking. Founding members include Pangani Basin Water Board, Tanzania Horticulture Association, 2030 WRG and International Water Stewardship Programme (IWASP).