A position paper developed by NGOs and other stakeholders for the International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa, 16-18 April 2008, Dakar, Senegal

Coordinated by Community Research and Development Centre, Nigeria

Report Summary

A case study for Earthlife Africa eThekwini and Friends of the Earth

Sanaga River, Cameroon

Integrated River Basin Management of the Sanaga River, Cameroon: Benefits and challenges of decentralised water management

This paper was written as final assignment for
the course ‘Integrated River Basin Management’ at the UNESCO Institute of
Hydraulic Engineering, Delft, The Netherlands.

1. THE SANAGA RIVER BASIN
The Sanaga River is the largest river in Cameroon and its basin covers almost a fourth of the country. It flows for 918 km from its source on the Adamawa Plateau to the mouth at the Atlantic Ocean near Douala nd covers a drainage basin of about 140,000 km2. The average flow of the river is 2072 m3/sec with a minimum flow of 473 m3/sec in March and a maximum from August to November of 5700 m3/sec. The river flows through 6 of the 10 provinces of Cameroon: Adamawa, North-West, West, East, Central and Littoral Provinces. Two hydropower plants have been installed on the Sanaga which produce some 95% of all electricity consumed in Cameroon.

As part of its going-out strategy, China is rapidly expanding its economic cooperation with Africa. China Exim Bank plays an important role in this cooperation. The policy bank is financing more than 250 projects in Africa, primarily in the infrastructure sector.

Dams Planned for African Rivers

This information is compiled by International Rivers’s Africa

Report from a Visit to Sudan and a Fact-Finding Mission to the Merowe Dam Project, 22 February – March 2005. Published by Peter Bosshard (International Rivers) and Nicholas Hildyard (The Corner House) in May 2005 

Despite the enormous geothermal potential in Uganda, harnessing of this resource potential has for some been an issue of contention in the country. The major reasons that have hindered the development of the resource have mainly been the cost of geothermal development in relation to the cost of large hydropower, the lack of political will on the side of government and to some extent the environmental concerns related to the development of resource. Government of Uganda has for some time expressed interest of developing this resource potential although, for several decades this commitment has failed to be translated into a reality. Recent developments in the sector indicate that the will of government to develop the resource is gaining some impetus; that is likely to see the resource being developed.