The consultation aimed to discuss, interpret and assess the HLPE’s recommendations from the Ethiopia’s standpoint and give forward directions. The consultation group members were selected from different agencies, which could represent water for food security and nutrition at national level.
Opening remarks were given by Dr. Tena Alamirew, Deputy Director General for Water and Land Resources Center (WLRC) of Ethiopia and Secretary of the Secretariat of Ethiopia Water Partnership (EWP).
Key note address was given by Mr Patrick Safari, Regional Coordinator of GWPEA; who gave a brief background about the SDG’s and UN post 2015 Development Agenda Process.
Participants were provided with the relevant materials and documentation including the HLPE’s recommendations and guiding questions prepared by the facilitator.
The facilitator presented the HLPE’s report and participants were requested to reflect and comment on the report. After discussions in the plenary, participants were then organized into four groups, where each group was focusing on recommendations by the HLPE Report, by assessing their relevance to the national context, taking into considerations Ethiopia’s priorities and needs. Each group was also requested to assess relevance/opportunities and implication related to the implementation of each recommendation.
The workshop was conducted in a participatory approach by looking at the opportunities and relevance of HLPE’s recommendations in the context of Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem nexus in Ethiopia. Finally, each group made presentations on its findings, relevance/opportunities and implication, during the plenary for further discussion.
Participants indicated that HLPE’s recommendations for water for FSN are relevant for Ethiopia with strong and positive implications. There are lots of opportunities to adopt the recommendations that can be nurtured for successful achievement. Existence of policies and strategies and regulatory tools with regard to water resources management, river basin and watershed management, climate change adaptation, green development, agricultural management, food investment, and existence of international and regional supporting institutions are few of the opportunities in implementation of the recommendations. Meanwhile, there are challenges that may slowdown the progress of attaining SDG goals. These include: lack of integration between institutions, lack of capacity, trans-boundary nature of many of the rivers, fragmentation of water use systems.
The national consultation group on Water and Food Security in the Broader Context of Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem nexus in Ethiopia confirmed the applicability of HLPE’s recommendation in Ethiopia’s context. The emerging institutions and strategies; like capacity building institution in water management, nutrition, irrigation management, REDD+, trans-boundary negotiation, and GTPII, all can serve as means for implementation of HLPE’s recommendations.
Participants concluded that recommendations are robust and timely for Ethiopia; considering the available land and water resources for the envisaged targets and the challenges faced due to uneven spatial and temporal availability of water and multi-faceted accessibility problems. The HLPE report and its recommendations are believed to address Ethiopia’s national position on water and food security in the broader context of Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem nexus.