Despite the progress achieved, challenges persist in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector across Sub-Saharan Africa, including a lack of technical, managerial, and innovative capacities among water operators, regulators, and decision-makers as well as a notable gender gap in training within the water sector. Since 2009, the European Commission's DG INTPA and JRC have been actively involved in supporting Water Centres of Excellence, working closely with key stakeholders such as AMCOW, AMCOST, and AUDA-NEPAD to drive progress in the African water sector. Water Regional Centres of Excellence lead scientific research in the African water sector, focusing on critical challenges such as integrated water resources management, sustainable water supply, sanitation, WASH, water for food, and water for energy in alignment with the AU and African Development Bank's Water Strategy for 2021-2025.
Regional Centres of Excellence
The University of Stellenbosch, supported by DG-JRC and the other programme stakeholders, coordinates a wide group of universities and research institutions operating in the water domain across Sus-Saharan Africa.
Mangroves forests are a crucial coastal ecosystem in tropics and subtropics countries. They provide a lot of environmental and socio-economic services and they are the main strategy for the resilience...
Africa’s extraordinary richness in biodiversity and ecosystem services comprises a strategic asset for sustainable development. Yet the decline and loss of biodiversity hampers the sustainable social ...
In 2016, a total of 42 billion cubic meters of water was lost through evaporation in hydropower reservoirs in Africa. A huge amount compared to the 1.2 billion cubic meters lost from all the other fue...
Dam-induced impoundment of water in hydropower reservoirs usually causes enlarged water surfaces compared to the waterbody extent prior to dam construction (with the exception of reservoirs constraine...
Surface water affects many aspects of our world: the exchange of heat, gas and water vapour between the planet's surface and atmosphere. Water is the engine behind the distribution, movement and migra...
Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Yet water-related ecosystems are threatened by human activities (flow a...
Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Yet water-related ecosystems are threatened by human activities (flow a...
Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Turbidity is an indicator of water clarity, quantifying the haziness of...
Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Yet water-related ecosystems are threatened by human activities. Eutrop...
Mangroves are trees or shrubs adapted to saline and brackish environments. They are found in the intertidal zone of tropical and sub-tropical coastlines. Mangrove forests are among the most productive...
Dam-induced impoundment of water in hydropower reservoirs usually causes enlarged water surfaces compared to the waterbody extent prior to dam construction (with the exception of reservoirs constraine...
Dam-induced impoundment of water in hydropower reservoirs usually causes enlarged water surfaces compared to the waterbody extent prior to dam construction (with the exception of reservoirs constraine...
In 2016, a total of 42 billion cubic meters of water was lost through evaporation in hydropower reservoirs in Africa. A huge amount compared to the 1.2 billion cubic meters lost from all the other fue...
Monitoring of sea surface temperature (SST) provides fundamental information on the global climate system and for the study of marine ecosystems. For example, it helps estimating heat stress conducive...
Monitoring of sea surface temperature (SST) provides fundamental information on the global climate system and for the study of marine ecosystems. For example, it helps estimating heat stress conducive...
