Ensuring climate resilient water supplies in the Comoros Islands

The Green Climate Fund is contributing U.S. $ 41.9 million towards a project in the Comoros Islands which is designed to increase the climate resilience of water supply for drinking water and irrigation purposes in the areas most exposed to climate risks. The project is being co-funded by UNDP (with a contribution of U.S. $ 2 million), the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (with a contribution of U.S. $ 293,000) China-CGC (with a contribution of U.S. $ 1.9 million, and the Government of the Union of Comoros (with a contribution of U.S. $ 14.5 million)

The project supports the Union of Comoros to adapt to increasing extreme climate risks such as droughts, flooding, and water quality impacts from landslides or erosion which together have an impact on the country’s drinking and irrigation water supplies.

The Union of the Comoros is a country made up of a total of four larger islands in Southeastern Africa, located in the Mozambique channel of the Indian Ocean between Malawi and Madagascar. The larger islands are Mayotte (with an area of 370km²), Anjouan (424 km²), Mohéli (290 km²) and Grand-Comore (1148 km²). Although the Comoros are a sovereign nation, the island of Mayotte is formally French territory. 

The Comoros has a population of 836,000 and a national land area of only 2,612 km², consisting of steep volcanic terrain, with no land further than 7 km from the coast. It is one of only two Small Island States in Africa.

As a result of the topography of the country, its watersheds and aquifers are small and have little natural water storage capacity, which limits the resilience of water supply infrastructure to climate change, an issue which is further compounded by increasing variability of rainfall. The average annual rainfall for the islands is 1000 mm, but this is highly variable from year to year.  United Nations models indicate a potential reduction in dry-season rainfall of up to 47 percent by 2090 in Comoros, increased rains in the wet season, and more severe cyclone activity.

The islands of Anjouan and Moheli have traditionally relied on surface water supply, but forest clearing has reduced the number of rivers on Anjouan from 40 some decades ago to 20 rivers presently. In Moheli, which currently has 20 rivers, surface water dries up during the warm season. On the island of Grande Comore, 60% of the population relies on uncovered water containers and 40% on coastal aquifers. As is the case in many small island states, the aquifers lie above a layer of salt water and therefore salinity levels are high and there is the risk of saltwater intrusion into the aquifers.

For months now the country has experienced protracted water supply issues due to a prolonged drought season, reduced rainfall, and households in the urban areas procuring water as a result. These issues have been discussed at the highest political level and the government has put pressure on all partners to find a solution as rapidly as possible.  It is reported that the capital, Moroni, has allocated emergency funds as of August 2024 towards for urban water distribution. The situation is slightly better in the rural areas that are covered by the GCF project and where distribution has commenced

As a result of these challenges, the Government of Comoros is working in partnership with the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a project to ensure climate-resilient water supplies for 450,000 people.

The project includes work on the ‘enabling environment’, which in this case referred primarily to an update of the country’s water legislation to introduce a dynamic form of Integrated Water Resources Management with a focus on adaptation to climate change, combined with awareness raising and the introduction of systematic measures to assess and respond to climate risks. To support this, a complete mapping of watersheds and their hydrographic networks has been conducted and the water resources monitoring network has been updated and improved.

For the water supplies, for example, geophysical prospecting has led to the identification of an additional six drilling points to increase groundwater production on Grand Comore, as well as the provision of infrastructure for rainwater harvesting for agricultural purposes. As a result, there has been an increase in the storage of irrigation water from 2,233 m³ to 14,982 m³, benefiting 4,980 farmers. Another example is the construction of resilient drinking water supply infrastructure in 4 targeted areas on the island of Anjouan which provides 10,773 inhabitants (or 14% of the country's population) with a water supply service.