Young professionals identify water management priorities using the City Blueprint Approach

“Cities in developing countries are facing unprecedented challenges caused by rapidly progressing urbanisation and effects of climate change. The latter causing recurrent weather events of increasing intensity, including floods and droughts, which hamper the provision of basic services. It is estimated that by 2050, 87% of the population will live in cities while at the same time the supply of water will be 40% less than demand, whilst risks for life and property increase. Cities are therefore obliged to adapt their water management to avoid falling prey to inaction and growing social inequalities. But how can a city quickly understand which elements of its water cycle are already sustainable and which ones need to be adapted?
The City Blueprint Approach (CBA) is both a multi-stakeholder process and a practical assessment tool that can help cities on their journey to becoming water-wise cities, i.e. in their decision-making to address their challenges in terms of water, waste and climate change.
In this report, we have identified priorities for addressing integrated water challenges in six African cities: Abuja, Bangui, Harare, Libreville, Yaoundé and Windhoek. The CBA has been applied. It consists of three indicator assessments: (1) the Trends and Pressures Framework (TPF), (2) the City Blueprint Framework (CBF) and (3) the Water Governance Capacity Framework (GCF) as shown below.”

(Citation: Koop, S.H.A., Berthelot, M., et al. – Young professionals identify water management priorities using the City Blueprint Approach – KWR 2020.098 (2020))