Green hills, blue cities: an ecosystems approach to water resources management for African cities

In light of its rapid urban growth, Africa is likely to experience some of the most severe impacts of climate change&nbsp;&ndash; particularly when it comes to water and food security, which places enormous pressure on growing urban populations. This paper notes that the high rate of urbanisation in Africa has not been matched with an improvement in service delivery, resulting in inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation. <br />The document highlights that:&nbsp; as towns and cities rapidly increase in size, impoverished people tend to settle along drainages, where they can grow home gardens, but where they are also exposed to flood risks the loss of ecosystem services, such as the natural filtering of rainwater in forests, critically reduces water quality and increases health risks as available water resources become polluted.<br />The author deems that cities must protect and restore ecosystems to secure key water sources; they must restore adjacent watersheds and improve engineering solutions to supply water. At the same time, cities must reduce water consumption and recycle their waste water. <br />Recommendations include the following:&nbsp; communities should plan water management against future scenarios, including extreme droughts or floods combined with rapidly growing urban populations successful and sustainable management of waste water to help support peri-urban agriculture is crucial for reducing water consumption countries must adopt a multi-sectoral approach to water and waste water management as a matter of urgency&nbsp; solutions for smart water and waste management must be socially and culturally appropriate, as well as economically and environmentally viable&nbsp; education must play a central role in water management and in reducing overall volumes and harmful content of waste water so that solutions are sustainable.<br />