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INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Project Water Resources Management in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Project Progress The general objective of the project is to support the development of a comprehensive observational network for a hydro-information system, as well as technical capacity building that will promote sustainable planning, utilization, and management of the DRC water resources. The Congo River is the cornerstone of the economy and livelihood of the Democratic Republic of Congo, facilitating water supply, navigation, hydropower, agriculture, ecosystems, tourism, etc. It is an important regional resource, extending into Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Zambia, and Tanzania, offering potential for water and energy exports. Challenges, however, are presented by poverty, disease, restricted clean water access, deforestation and climate change. In addition the country is facing a lack of adequate institutional and technical capacity, of adequate and reliable observational data, hydro-informatics tools, and of trained human resources for holistic planning, utilization, and management. Results and further steps Case studies in literature indicate that the people in the rural areas of DR Congo perceive effects of climate change, notably by being exposed to fresh water access limitations (83% of the respondents) and hydro-meteorological natural disaster threats during the last 10 years (90%). Key climate risks of extreme rainfall, seasonal droughts, floods, heat waves and coastal erosion are all increasing to varying extents. Subsequent phases in the project concern building of a consensus towards a new water law. The focus is on continued development of the Congo Decision Support System, with models for rainfallrunoff, routing, hydropower facilities and economics. It also includes flood and drought forecasting systems. Groundwater, water quality and the impacts of agriculture developments and deforestation will be addressed later. In connection to all project phases specific capacity building needs have been identified. Work initially focused on an inventory of available hydro-meteorological data, which are increasingly scarce, it should be definitively redirected to the use of satellite earth observation technology for water resource assessment for sustainable development. The purpose of the water resources assessment is to quantify the water resources, within the Congo River Basin. Outputs from the study will be an essential input for the pre-feasibility assessment and design of future development projects in the river basin as well as environmental studies PI Dr. Dieudonné Nsadisa Faka, Institut Supérieur de Techniques Appliquées (ISTA), DR Congo Team • Institut Supérieur de Techniques Appliquées (ISTA), DR Congo • Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism, DR Congo • Faculty of Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology (TUD-CiTG), the Netherlands Meteorological stations in the past (top) and present (bottom). The Tiger iniTiaTive → 2009-2012 reporT 27