1. DRILLING AND CONSTRUCTION OF MONITORING BOREHOLES ALONG THE MOHOKARE RIVER
  2. Construction of Three (3) Hydrometric Stations for Department of Water Affairs
  3. Press release- ORASECOM welcomes new head, Executive Secretary – Molosiwa
  4. Project Assistant
  5. Consulting Services to provide technical support and facilitate private sector engagement within the Orange-Senqu River Basin
  6. Executive Secretary: Orange Senqu River Commission
  7. TERMS OF REFERENCE For The Appointment of a Service Provider for The Review of The Estuarine Management Plan (EMP) For The Orange – Senqu River Mouth Estuary
  8. PROCUREMENT, SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF EQUIPMENT FOR /AI- /AIS NATIONAL PARK AND DREIHUK PROSOPIS HARVESTING SITES, IN NAMIBIA
  9. Consultancy services to facilitate the marketing and sales of prosopis products for /ai-/ais, dreihuk, gibeon and mariental pilot sites
  10. Procurement for supply, installation, training and commissioning of water quality monitoring and laboratory equipment for Orasecom member state of Lesotho
  11. Consulting Services – Water Information System (WIS)
  12. Support to the Orange River Mouth rehabilitation project
  13. Namibia prepares for combating Prosopis
  14. ORASECOM is hiring consultants
  15. 4th SADC Groundwater Conference 10-12 November 2021
  16. Botswana Desalination Plant Project Launched
  17. 39th IAHR World Congress
  18. Water is a matter of life and death – Opinion piece
  19. Webinar: Transboundary Water Management under conditions of Climate and Political Uncertainty: Middle Eastern and South African Perspectives
  20. World Water Week Groundwater Webinar
  21. Interview with Lenka Thamae, Executive Secretary of ORASECOM on the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer scheme
  22. Webinar Series: Groundwater – Base Rock of Resilience
  23. Climate Resilient Water Resources Investment Strategy & Plan & Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer (L-BWT) Project
  24. GIZ
  25. Joint Water Resources Quality Survey (JBS)
  26. FGEF Support
  27. Water Information System (WIS)
  28. Joint Irrigation Authority (JIA)
  29. Water Information System (WIS)
  30. Adequate Rainfall Predicted for SADC October-December Season
  31. Orange-Senqu Basin Wide Groundwater Survey
  32. Fundraising for the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer Project
  33. Orange-Senqu River Awareness Kit
  34. International Conference on FRESH WATER GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 5th – 7th November, 2012, Champagne Sports Resort, Central Drakensburg (KwaZulu-Natal), South Africa
  35. 4th Orange-Senqu River Basin Symposium, 6th – 7th June 2012, Campus of the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
  36. The African Transboundary River Basin Support Programme came to an end
  37. Towards Transboundary Evironmental Assessment Guidelines for the Orange-Senqu River Basin
  38. ORASECOM initiates work on the Orange-Senqu River Learning Box
  39. The ORASECOM Secretariat takes delivery of a three dimensional map of the basin
  40. ORASECOM publishes its “State of the Orange-Senqu River System” Report
  41. ORASECOM initiates work on the Orange-Senqu River Learning Box
  42. Training on Aquatic Ecosystem Health Monitoring
  43. The Urban Pollution Workshop at Mohale Dam
  44. Phase 2 of an IWRM Plan Development Project came to an end
  45. ORASECOM opens the Secretariat offices
  46. ORASECOM is visited by the Volta Basin Authority
  47. Training on Water Resources Yield Simulation Models
  48. ORASECOM at the 3rd Africa Water Week in Addis Ababa
  49. ORASECOM comes of age at 10!
  50. ORASECOM participates in the 13th International RiverSymposium
  51. ORASECOM works with the Benguela Current Commission
  52. Environmental Flows Requirements Site selection and survey for Caledon, Kraai, South Africa & Lesotho
  53. First Delphi Workshop, June 2010, North West, South Africa
  54. ORASECOM Prepares for the Joint Basin Survey – 1
  55. Workshop on Stakeholder Participation – Maseru, Lesotho
  56. Visit of the Nile Equatorial Subsidiary Action Plan group
  57. Visit to Lesotho Flow Gauging Stations

Regional and International Agreements

Several regional and basin-level agreements are important to the founding and the operation of ORASECOM. These agreements are detailed below.

 

ORASECOM Agreement

The Orange-Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM) was formalized by the Governments of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa through the signing of the ‘Agreement for the Establishment of the Orange-Senqu Commission’ on November 3rd, 2000 in Windhoek, Namibia (Earle et al, 2005).

ORASECOM was the first commission to be established following the regional ratification of the SADC Protocol on Shared Water Course Systems. The Agreement refers to, and recognizes the following agreements:

  • Helsinki Rules (1966)
  • UN Convention on Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (1997)
  • The SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems (2000)

SADC Revised Protocol

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an international organization that has been in existence since 1980 and currently comprises 15 member states: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The SADC Secretariat consists of Directorates of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources; Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment; Infrastructure and Services (I&S); and Social and Human Development. The SADC Water Division (WD), within the SADC Directorate of Infrastructure & Services (I&S), is tasked with overall coordination and management of the SADC Water Programme.

The revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems (2000) was originally developed by SADC in 1995 as part of the implementation process of the SADC Treaty. The original SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems was revised to recognize the UN Watercourses Convention. The SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems was signed in 2000 and came into force in 2003.

The SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses promotes the establishment of shared watercourse agreements and institutions and enshrines the principles of reasonable use and environmentally sound development of the resource. It supports Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and the Regional Strategic Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management (RSAP-IWRM).

The SADC Protocol supports strengthening the principles of integrated management of shared basins with specific provisions for equitable utilization, planned measures, no significant harm, and emergency situations.

More Information (User can click on ‘More Info’ to open the full agreement: Need to obtain from ORASECOM)

 

UN Watercourses Convention

The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (Watercourses Convention) passed in the UN General Assembly in 1997. This convention provides a framework and principles to guide basin level agreements. The Watercourses Convention is intended to be an umbrella agreement to support and sustain basin-wide cooperation. Within the Orange-Senqu River basin, South Africa and Namibia have both ratified this agreement.

The Watercourses Convention stresses principles of:

  • Universal participation
  • Cooperative governance
  • Equity
  • Peaceful dispute resolution
  • Communication and environmental protection

The Watercourses Convention also supports Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 10, on sustainable access to safe water drinking water and basic sanitation.