Water scarcity, conflicts, and governance in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo

• Main Author: Zagabe, Jean-Paul Mitima
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: Conflict of interests > Democratic Republic of Congo; Water-supply > Democratic Republic of Congo
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdd_polsci/5; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdd_polsci/article/1004/viewcontent/2023_Zagabe_Jean_Paul_Mitima_PhD_Dissertation_.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Conflicts of interest are part of the challenges governing common property resources like groundwater basins, fishing grounds, communal forests, lakes, and rivers (Ostrom, 2011b; 2010a; 2005; 1990). Furthermore, the challenge of climate change causes problems in different sectors, including access to safe drinking water in many parts of the world (WHO, 2019; WWAP, 2019). For instance, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) owns about 50 percent of Africa's water resources and forests (UNEP, 2017a). Yet, water users in the urban, peri-urban, and rural areas live under potable water stress in the DRC. The institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework underscores the importance of context in understanding collective action problems (Araral & Amri, 2016; Ostrom, 2007b; 2007c; 1995; Wanga et al., 2013). The IAD framework was used in examining cases of the cities of Bukavu and Uvira located in the province of South Kivu in the DRC to explain the collective action challenges in ensuring the availability of water and sanitation for all amid water scarcity and conflicts. This study utilized a qualitative research methodology (Gray, 2004; Lune & Berg, 2017; Wa- Mbaleka, 2018; Yin, 2016; 2018). Primary data were collected through key informant interviews (KIIs) and secondary data were gathered through document research. A total of 28 KIIs in Bukavu and 18 KIIs in Uvira were conducted. Following Gray’s (2004) case study design, triangulation, and thematic analysis were used to examine and present the data. The findings from the case studies were compared and recommendations were made to bridge the gaps and improve water governance at the national and community levels. The findings showed that contextual factors such as biophysical conditions, attributes of the community, and rules in use are crucial to understanding the situation. These factors reveal the collective action problems in governance that foster water scarcity and conflict in South Kivu. Enumerated factors include the presence of mobile and stable water sources that are also shared resource systems whose stakeholders have different priorities. There are socio-political and ethical issues within and across different tribes. Communities are patriarchal and heterogenous. Traditional and political perspectives on the ownership of land and resources diverge. All these aspects make the governance of the Common Pool Resources or Common Property Resources (CPRs) complex and conflictual. Centralized water governance, the disparity between rules on paper and rules in use, insecurity, and political instability at key provincial positions are other crucial contextual factors. These factors shape water governance, which is characterized by a multiplicity of stakeholders with unequal power, diverging priorities, and dependency on external actors in Bukavu and Uvira. Consequently, there is a weak consensus between x institutions and stakeholders. The findings also include the limitations of aid for developing the water sector. The study concludes that water scarcity and conflicts are not only the result of poor governance, a lack of infrastructure, and low technical and human capacities but are also the outcomes of insecurity, different perceptions about water, conflicts among actors, and the stakeholders’ competing individual priorities at different levels. Recommendations include using the IAD framework in other CPRs to better understand similar situations and generate knowledge that would address and improve the situation, and represent local praxis. Part of the recommendations is the need to install competent leadership with capacitated followership to promote the common good through collective responses. Keywords: capacity, central, community, insecurity, institutional arrangements, rules, stakeholders, water conflict, water governance, water scarcity.