Rainwater Harvesting and Management for Climate Change Adaptation with a focus on East Africa
Channel: International Water Association
Date: 15/02/2024

This webinar was part of a hybrid workshop organised by the Rainwater Harvesting and Management Specialist Group and in the Programme of the 3rd International Maji Scientific Conference. The Conference was from 31 January - 2 February 2024 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The webinar demonstrated the effectiveness of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and storage for raising people’s water security and resilience in the face of climate change effects.  

Current water supply coverage still leaves out 7 to 11% of the world population. Investment in rainwater harvesting and storage can benefit half of those still left behind and will pay off in health and wellbeing, improved nutrition through kitchen gardening, income generation and school attendance, while raising water security.  

The workshop highlighted cases where (subsidised) self-supply through RWH overcame the absence of centralised water supply services. It promoted the application of RWH to sector planners as a decentralised measure contributing to universal access in safe water supply (SDG6.1), ecosystem restoration (SDG 6.6), poverty alleviation (SDG 1) and nutrition (SDG2), and climate change adaptation (SDG13).