Blue Deal and Nature Based Solutions
20 July 2021Within the Blue Deal partnership in Ghana (led by Dutch Water Authority Aa en Maas), the NWB Fund has decided to support the establishment of a 'Focal Point' for Nature Based Solutions. The objective of the Focal Point, which will be set up by Jaap Bos (Blue Deal Ghana), is to collect and build knowledge to make it actively available to the Blue Deal partnerships working on Nature Based Solutions.
What is the Blue Deal Programme?
The Blue Deal programme is an international water development programme between the Dutch Water Authorities and the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Infrastructure and Water Management. The programme’s ambition is to contribute to clean, safe and sufficient water for 20 million people by 2030. Dutch Water Authorities partner with river basin, catchment or water treatment organisations abroad and work on strengthening knowledge and expertise of water management. World Waternet is involved in six Blue Deal projects, in:
- Ramallah (Palestinian territories), with the Palestinian Water Authority
- White Volta & Volta Delta (Ghana), with the Water Resources Commission
- 'Dji Don' (Mali), with Agence Nationale de Gestion des Stations d’Épuration du Mali, ANGESEM
- Abbay (Ethiopia), with the Abbay Basin Authority
- Tana (Kenya), with the Water Resources Authority
- 'Faso Koom' (Burkina Faso), with the five Regional Water Authorities in Burkina Faso
Nature Based Solutions
Within the international community, Nature Based Solutions are defined as follows:
“Actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. They use the power of nature and functioning ecosystems as infrastructure to provide natural services to benefit society and the environment.”
Within several Blue Deal projects, Nature Based Solutions are an important basis for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). They promote cooperation between relevant parties - and can - through external financing - provide stimulating pilots where IWRM can be put into practice. A succesful example are the reforestation efforts within the Blue Deal Ghana partnership, where private parties finance the planting of trees. The local population is trained to ensure long-term impact. In this way, water management becomes truly integral and also provides a basis for socio-economic development.
Two pilots on certification and mangroves
As part of the establishment of the Focal Point, the NWB Fund is supporting two pilots within the Blue Deal partnership Ghana:
- A feasibility study to investigate whether reforestation in the arid regions of Africa can produce certifiable (and therefore saleable) CO2 credits. The pilot builds on the experience currently gained from the ongoing reforestation project in Northern Ghana.
- Setting up a project proposal in which mangrove planting is part of an integrated coastal management approach in Southern Ghana, in which various water management components play an important role. Mangrove restoration is then the flywheel for properly anchoring water management in the local communities and, as an ecosystem service, can provide partial financing.
