This week, Almar Water Solutions participated in the event The Fourth Africa Climate Resilience Investment Summit (ACRIS) held in Johannesburg, South Africa. This summit has become a platform for the governments of Africa, civil society, international financial organizations and the private sector to focus on the planning, design and implementation of investments in sectors that are sensitive to climate change, such as energy, water, transport, ecosystems and agriculture, among others.
Manel Salvadó, Business Development Manager for Africa, was a speaker at session 2 on Tuesday titled "Managing Land & Water Resources in the Face of Climate Change", in which he presented the opportunities of private investment to accelerate the development of water infrastructure in the countries of Africa. Manel also highlighted the difference between resilience and water crises, two concepts that are currently very relevant with completely distinct forms of management.
Currently, 40% of soil in Africa is degraded. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), some 83% of Sub-Saharan African people depend on the land for their livelihood, and food production in Africa will have to increase almost 100% by 2050 to meet population demands. Millions of Africans still suffer from water shortages due to problems of uneven distribution and management of the existing supplies. One example of the disparity in water availability is the Congo Basin, where 30% of the continent's water drains through lands that are inhabited by just 10% of Africa's population.
The fourth Africa Climate Resilience Investment Summit (ACRIS) included collaboration and participation by the Africa Climate Resilient Investment Facility (AFRI-RES), the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank.
Almar Water Solutions, which has offices in South Africa, is aware of the great water needs of Sub-Saharan Africa, and it is one of the large geographical areas where it is focusing its business development area. As a result, the company was recently awarded a contract in Mombasa for the first large-scale desalination plant in Kenya, with a daily capacity of 100,000 cubic meters of drinking water. The project will supply drinking water to more than one million people and will be managed and operated for 25 years under a BOT scheme.
