ORASECOM’s Data and Information Sharing Commitments

The role and responsibilities of ORASECOM relating to data and information management are laid out in the Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC Protocol, 2000) and the ORASECOM Agreement.

The SADC Protocol states that:

“Parties shall exchange available information and data regarding the hydrological, hydro geological, water quality, meteorological and environmental condition of shared watercourses. ”

The ORASECOM Agreement includes three tasks related to exchange of data and information:

• Art 7.4 obliges the Parties to the Agreement to “exchange available information and data regarding the hydrological, hydro-geological, water quality, meteorological and environmental condition of the River System.”
• Standardisation of river monitoring: Art 5.2.5 advises the Parties to work towards “the standardised form of collecting, processing and disseminating data or information with regards to a/l aspects of the River System. “
• Notification of projects: Art 7.5 obliges: “a Party planning any project, programme or activity with regard to the River System which may have a significant adverse effect upon anyone or more of the other Parties, or which may adversely affect such River System, shall forthwith notify the Council and provide all available data and information with regard thereto.”

As would be expected, line agencies in the riparian States as well as other institutions, acquire and manage a large range of data and information relevant to water resources management in the Orange-Senqu River Basin. These data include hydrology-meteorology, hydrogeology, and water quality. Whereas some important data custodians in the riparian States have been identified, knowledge of where datasets may be held is mostly fragmented and not easily accessible.