The National Poverty Reduction Strategies – Policy Coherence and the Projected Role of Natural Resources and Fisheries

54 6.1. Introduction 54 6.2. Cameroon 55 6.3. Niger 56 6.4. Nigeria 56 6.5 Malawi 58 6.6. Summary 59

7. Discussion and Conclusions 62

10 1. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

The Lake Chad Basin (LCB) and the Zambesi River Basin (ZRB) are two of the major hydrological drainage basins of Africa. They are comprised of significant water resources (lakes, rivers, wetlands and groundwater) and associated aquatic habitats. In turn these provide a wide range of ecosystem goods and services – fresh water, agricultural land, fishing opportunities, food, fuel etc - for the countries and people living within their boundaries.

However, despite the apparent abundance of natural resources (natural capital) in these two regions, which have the potential to make an important contribution to sustainable development, the riparian countries in each case (Table 1 below), are classified as ‘developing countries’ or ‘least developed countries’. In other words, these countries tend to be characterised by a low level of economic development and growth, with a large proportion of the population vulnerable to poverty.

Table 1. Countries of the LCB and the ZRB compared Area (000s sq km) Population (millions) GDP per capita Poverty (% below PL) HDI (score) (world rank) Lake Chad Basin

CAR 623 4.3 1,200 n.a. n.a.

Cameroon 475 16.1 2,400 53.3 0.506 (144) Chad 1,284 8.6 1,500 64 0.368 (171) Niger 1,267 11.8 1,000 63 0.311 (177) Nigeria 924 136.5 1,500 43 0.448 (159) Total 4,573 177.3 .. .. .. Mean .. .. 1,520 56.1 0.408

Zambesi River Basin

Angola 1,247 13.5 4,500 n.a 0.439 (161) Botswana 582 1.7 10,900 n.a. 0.570 (131) DRC 2,345 53.2 700 n.a. 0.391 (167) Malawi 119 11 600 54 0.400 (166) Mozambique 802 18.8 1,500 70 0.390 (168) Namibia 824 2 7,500 n.a. 0.626 (125) Zimbabwe 391 13.1 2,100 69.2 0.491 (151) Zambia 753 10.4 1,000 25.8 0.407 (165) Total 7,063 123.7 .. .. .. Mean .. .. 3,600 54.75 0.464 Other Countries USA 9,629 282 43,800 13 0.948 (8) UK 243 59 31,800 17 0.940 (18) India 3,166 1,016 3,800 29 0.611 (126) Korea 100 47 24,500 15 0.912 (26) Malaysia 330 23 12,00 15 0.805 (61) S. Africa 1,221 44 13,300 50 0.653 (121)

Source CIA World

Factbook (2006) CIA World Factbook (2006) CIA World Factbook (2006) World Bank (2006) World Development Indicators World Bank (2006) World Development Indicators There can be no doubt that for most countries, the quality of the national governance framework and the policy process has a great influence on national development.

11 Good governance and effective policy will underpin national development, as borne out by the Asian Tiger economies over the past 20 years. Conversely, without appropriate and effective governance and policy, the potential for growth and development will not be realised.

For sectoral development, it is also important that governance and policy arrangements are strong and coherent with national arrangements. In the case of the countries of the LCB and ZRB, which share important water and aquatic resources, there will also be a need for coherent governance and policy at a regional level (basin- wide).

In this context, therefore, for the countries of the LCB and the ZRB – one of the key questions is how to bring about improvements in governance and policy? And secondly, how does this relate to the future usage of natural resources for national development.

The BMZ Project ‘Food Security and Poverty Alleviation through Improved Valuation and Governance of River Fisheries in Africa’ (2006-08) will address these and other key questions by focusing on one particularly important sector and resource – river fisheries. The overall purpose will be to strengthen the capacity of national and regional decision-making to develop and implement improved governance and policy mechanisms that sustain river fisheries and enhance their contribution to poverty alleviation and national food security. A particular theme of the project was to understand and assess how improved valuation information could contribute to this purpose.

The current report represents a synthesis of the policy research which was undertaken in the initial phase of the project and which represents one component of this project (the other major components included stakeholder analysis, governance analysis and valuation assessments). The overall objective of the work was to establish a better understanding of the national policy processes in the countries of the two hydrological basins (LCB and ZRB), with particular reference to fisheries.

The main thrust of the policy research would be to review the current national fisheries policy processes and the identification of options for change and improvements.

There are six sections of this report to follow. First, a brief outline of the study approach used in the policy analysis component of the project to date. Second, to provide some background to the subsequent work, a range of conceptual and empirical perspectives are provided on policy analysis and natural resources in Africa. Third, the development context for the policy analysis provided by the countries of the LCB and ZRB is reviewed. Fourth, the results of a set of detailed studies of the national policy process in each country, with reference to fisheries, are presented. Fifth, the relationship between fisheries and the national poverty reduction strategies in each country is analysed. Sixth, the final section presents a discussion and set of conclusions based on the earlier sections.

12 2. STUDY APPROACH

2.1. Introduction

The study approach for the initial phase (Phase 1) of the Policy Analysis component of the project focused on trying to establish a better understanding of the policy process in the countries of the LCB and the ZRB. Initially the work was focused on three LCB countries – Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, and in one ZRB country – Malawi. The study teams in each country agreed a common methodology and using a combination of both primary and secondary data. The results of the national studies were summarised and synthesised, subsequently, and set within a wider context provided by a set of conceptual and empirical perspectives on policy analysis, and reviews of the development status of the LCB and ZRB regions. In addition, the relationship between fisheries policy and national poverty reduction strategies were also considered.

2.2. Methodology Part 1: National studies

The methodology developed and agreed by all members of the study team is given in Appendix 1 (below).

To summarise the methodology, there were six steps:

Step 1: Focus on the definition of ‘policy’ and ‘policy analysis’;

Step 2: Consideration of the importance of policy analysis for the project; Step 3. Review of the methodology given in the original project proposal; Step 4. Proposed timing and milestones;

Step 5: Policy analysis outline and report structure; Step 6: Assessment of the methodology proposed.

There were three key dimensions to content of the policy analysis:

- understanding the link between sector characteristics and operation and policy; - a focus on fisheries co-management (or decentralisation) as a means of

characterising the policy process;

- understanding the policy process in five main areas: governance context, policy narratives, relations between actors, policy spaces and options, and policy coherence.

Part 2: Wider contextual analysis

To inform and complement the empirical analysis of the policy process at national level, three other sub-studies were also undertaken:

- a review of conceptual and empirical perspectives on policy analysis and natural resources in Africa (as well as important considerations for the policy process in general, issues which have been identified in other sectors, other than fisheries, were also considered including wildlife, forestry, rangeland and water management);

- a review of the wider development context of the LCB and ZRB;

- an analysis of the relationship between national poverty reduction strategies and the projected role of natural resources and fisheries.

13 The two parts of the methodology (1+2) have been brought together in the final section – discussion and conclusions.

2.3. Implementation

The phase 1 Policy Analysis was implemented during 2006-07 by the team members, including both the national studies (part1) and the overview analysis (part 2).

3. POLICY ANALYSIS AND NATURAL RESOURCES IN AFRICA: