{"id":3645,"date":"2023-11-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/southern-africa\/news\/mozambique-and-zimbabwe-collaborate-on-governance-and-sustainable-management-of-the-buzi-pungwe-and-save-shared-watercourses\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:12:22","slug":"mozambique-and-zimbabwe-collaborate-on-governance-and-sustainable-management-of-the-buzi-pungwe-and-save-shared-watercourses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/southern-africa\/news\/mozambique-and-zimbabwe-collaborate-on-governance-and-sustainable-management-of-the-buzi-pungwe-and-save-shared-watercourses\/","title":{"rendered":"Mozambique and Zimbabwe collaborate on governance and sustainable management of the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Shared Watercourses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Map of the BUPUSA River Basins, exclusively shared by Mozambique and Zimbabwe<\/span>. Photo Credit: GEF BUPUSA project <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mozambique and Zimbabwe share at least five river basins, namely Limpopo, Zambezi, Pungwe, Buzi, and Save. The last three basins, collectively known as BUPUSA, are exclusively shared by the two countries. Water resources planning, development, and sustainable management of projects in the BUPUSA basins rely on cooperation between the two countries. With funding from the <\/span>Global Environment Facility (GEF<\/span><\/span><\/a>), Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) is supporting the two governments in strengthening transboundary water management within the basin<\/span>s,<\/span> through the <\/span><\/span>Management of Competing Water Uses and Associated Ecosystems in Pungwe, Buzi, and Save Basins <\/span>(GEF-BUPUSA) <\/span>project,<\/span><\/span><\/a>  implemented by the <\/span>International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A major step towards achieving this cooperation was the establishment of the <\/span>Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Watercourse Commission (BUPUSACOM)<\/span><\/span><\/a>  by the Mozambican and Zimbabwean Governments through the <\/span>BUPUSA Establishment Agreement<\/span><\/span><\/a>, which they signed in May 2023. The <\/span>Commission<\/span><\/span><\/a>, <\/span>launched<\/span><\/span><\/a> in July 2023, consists of four organs, which are the Council of Ministers, the Technical Committee, the Taskforce Teams, and the Secretariat.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Council of Ministers, <\/span>comprising<\/span> the Ministers responsible for water resources from the two governments, is the supreme decision-making body of the Commission. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Technical <\/span>Committee,<\/span> made up of senior officials from the two governments, implements policies and decisions made by the Council and develops strategic plans for the three watercourses for recommendations to the Council for approval. This is done with the technical support of the Secretariat.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Secretariat, led by an Executive Secretary, is the administrative body of the Commission, responsible for overseeing the planning, development, and management of the water resources within the three River Basins. Member states have already nominated the technical committee.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The BUPUSA Secretariat is currently hosted by the Mozambican Government for the first 15 years as stipulated in the <\/span>BUPUSA Hosting Agreement of 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/a>Thereafter, <\/span>hosting becomes rotational between the two countries.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Critical to coordinated<\/span>cooperation and joint <\/span>utilization<\/span> of the water resources in the BUPUSA basins are the water-sharing agreements between the two countries. The <\/span><\/span>Pungwe<\/span><\/span><\/a> Water Sharing Agreement was signed in 2016, while the <\/span>Buzi<\/span><\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Save<\/span><\/span><\/a> Accords were signed in <\/span>2019<\/span><\/span><\/a> and <\/span>2023<\/span><\/span><\/a>, respectively. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the implementation of these water-sharing Agreements, the Commission is governed by the general principles of international water conventions, the <\/span>Revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses (2000)<\/span><\/span><\/a>,<\/span><\/span>and <\/span><\/span>national laws and policies in the two Member States<\/span>. The <\/span>SADC Protocol calls for the need to <\/span>establish<\/span> river basin institutions, such as river basin commissions, joint water commissions, and water-sharing agreements. The Commission also commits to adopting the necessary measures<\/span>, policies, strategies, programmes, and projects to <\/span>eliminate<\/span> discrimination and achieve gender equality and equity.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span> \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

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Land cover map of the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save basins: Photo credit: BRL Engineering<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The BUPUSA basins are prone to extreme hydro-metrological events (floods and droughts). Human activities in the basins are also on the rise, causing damage to the environment as well as deteriorating <\/span>water quality.<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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GWPSA support was provided to the two governments during the last phase of the negotiations for the Save Water Sharing Agreement and the BUPUSA Establishment and Hosting Agreements, as part of the deliverables for the GEF-<\/span>BUPUSA <\/span>project. The project focuses on the conservation, sustainable use, and risk mitigation aspects of the BUPUSA basins\u2019 water resources and the promotion of holistic approaches using the water-energy-food nexus, with a specific interest in connected ecosystems.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2019, GWPSA supported the <\/span>finalisation<\/span> of the negotiation process that led to the signing of the Buzi agreement through the <\/span><\/span>Buzi, Pungwe, Save Tri-Basin Project under<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u202fthe SADC-GIZ Transboundary Water Management in SADC (GIZ-TWM) Programme, executed by GWPSA on behalf of the SADC Secretariat. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To view this article in Portuguese, click here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Map of the BUPUSA River Basins, exclusively shared by Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Photo Credit: GEF BUPUSA project   Mozambique and Zimbabwe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,4],"tags":[82,22,21,23,20],"class_list":["post-3645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-news","tag-english","tag-finance","tag-iwrm","tag-southern-africa","tag-transboundary"],"acf":[],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_sidebar_content":["field_69d4d421acab1"],"sidebar_content":["

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