Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania formally launched a $7.12 million initiative to co-manage the Ruvuma River Basin and its coastal ecosystem at a launch workshop held in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, marking the beginning of a five-year effort to protect one of southeast Africa’s most important and most vulnerable shared waterways.
The project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is the first comprehensive attempt to manage a 155,000 square kilometer watershed using a ‘source-to-sea’ approach that treats terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems as a single interconnected system.
The two-day workshop at Johari Rotana Hotel will lay the foundation for long-term cross-border cooperation and strengthen common efforts among the three riparian states towards sustainable watershed and coastal management.
river under pressure
The Ruvuma River serves as an important water source for communities, agriculture, and industry in all three countries, but the basin faces increasing threats that outpace management efforts.
Climate change is bringing unpredictable rainfall patterns and extreme weather events to the region. Comprehensive management plans remain absent, hindering sustainable use and conservation of watershed resources.
Reliable data is lacking and local communities have limited involvement in decisions that affect the waterways they depend on.
This project aims to address these gaps by protecting ecosystem integrity, strengthening resilience to climate change, and supporting inclusive and sustainable livelihoods across the Basin and its coastal zone.
Three countries, one basin
The Ruvuma River Basin straddles three countries unevenly. Mozambique has an area of approximately 100,000 square kilometers, approximately 65% of the total area of the basin. Tanzania has an area of approximately 52,000 square kilometers or 34%.
Global Water Partnership South Africa
Although Malawi is the smallest country at 2,500 square kilometers, accounting for less than 2% of the basin, its participation is considered essential for integrated management from the headwaters to the Indian Ocean.
Implementation is anchored in regional and national institutions across all three states, with transboundary coordination mechanisms acting as custodians of basin-level governance.
large investment
GEF approved the full-size project in August 2025 and committed a grant of $7,122,018. Member countries and partners have committed to cofinancing a total of $65.49 million, bringing the total investment over the five-year project period to December 2030 to more than $72 million.
The initiative is being carried out by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Southern Africa and Wetlands International Eastern Africa in partnership with the Rovuma/Ruvuma River Basin Cooperative Development and Management.
2 years in the making
This project went through an extensive preparatory process.
GEF approved the first concept note in January 2024 and began a 12-month development phase that included basin-wide stakeholder consultations in Malawi’s Southern Coast Basin, Mozambique’s ARA North Region, and Tanzania’s Ruvuma and Southern Coast Regions from November to December 2024.
Photo: Wetlands International East Africa
A validation workshop was held in Lilongwe, Malawi in January 2025, followed by approval from GEF focal points in all three countries before final approval of the project.
Approaching the sea from the source
The project’s source-to-sea framework distinguishes itself from traditional river basin management efforts by explicitly recognizing that upstream activities (deforestation, agricultural runoff, pollution) directly impact coastal and marine ecosystems hundreds of kilometers downstream.
For communities along the Ruvuma River and its tributaries, this approach promises management decisions based on the big picture rather than a fragmented national perspective.
As climate change increases pressure on shared water resources across Africa, the Ruvuma project could become a model for cross-border cooperation on a continent where more than 60 international river basins cross borders and competition for water is expected to increase sharply in the coming decades.
Written by Winston Mwale, AfricanBrief
Source: EnviroNews
