Water

On 24 September the General Assembly adopted a declaration on sea-level rise without a vote. It says the "cumulative, severe and irreversible risks demand stronger international cooperation". It stresses early warning, data and planning, and it commits no money. Only 40% of African countries have warning systems that cover several hazards at once. African coastal states will have to find the money for warnings and sea defences elsewhere.

Egypt's Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, told the Assembly on 25 September that the Nile is "a lifeline". He said shared rivers should not be managed "through unilateral measures". Egypt has 472 cubic metres of renewable water per person each year, and 98% of it flows in from outside its borders. During President Xi Jinping's visit to Cairo in September, China recognised Egypt's "legitimate right to safeguard water and food security". Egypt is now seeking support for its Nile position from powers outside Africa.

The high-seas treaty, which protects sea life in waters beyond any country's control, passed 100 member countries during the week. Germany, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Australia, Brunei and Lebanon joined between 22 and 24 September, bringing the total to 101. Its first meeting of members takes place in New York from 11 to 22 January 2027. Only countries that have ratified the treaty take the decisions there, so African states that delay will have no vote on how it starts.

A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the UN children's agency, came out on 22 September. Worldwide, the share of schools with basic drinking water rose from 67% to 78% between 2015 and 2025. In sub-Saharan Africa, 46% of schools have basic water and 43% have basic toilets, meaning usable toilets separate for girls and boys. Only 39% have a place to wash hands with soap and water. About 250 million children in the region have no basic water at school, and 264 million have no basic toilets. To reach every school by 2030, progress would need to be four times faster for water and five times faster for toilets. At today's pace, Africa will miss the 2030 goal by a wide margin.

Homes are improving slowly. In sub-Saharan Africa, the share of people with basic drinking water at home rose from 59% in 2015 to 68% in 2024, against 92% worldwide. Basic sanitation at home rose from 31% to 37%, against 82% worldwide. Africa invests $10 billion to $19 billion a year in water, while it needs at least $30 billion. Private investors provide only 9% of water investment, against 87% in telecommunications. The Africa Water Investment Programme estimates that poor water and sanitation cost sub-Saharan Africa about 5% of its economic output each year. The shortfall in water spending already costs African economies every year.

On the Nile, Ethiopia opened its 5,000-megawatt dam in September 2025. It cost about $5 billion. Ethiopia paid through its central bank and by selling bonds, after Egypt blocked outside funding. Weeks later, the Nile flooded villages south of Khartoum. Sudan's irrigation ministry blamed heavy rain and water released from the dam. Ethiopia replied that the dam had cut the river's highest flows. Before the dam, they passed 800 million cubic metres a day, and in September 2025 they reached 472 million. No agreement requires the three countries to share data on river flows, so each side can blame the other.

A treaty among upstream countries, the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement, came into force on 13 October 2024. It sets up a commission to manage the river together. Egypt and Sudan reject it, so the two countries furthest downstream stand outside the only shared rules for the river.

The common story of a disappearing Lake Chad is out of date. A 2020 study found the lake's size stable over twenty years, with groundwater behind about 70% of changes in the water it holds. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) found that open water grew from about 3,600 square kilometres in 2012 to over 8,300 in 2025. Less than 6% of the land around it that could be irrigated is irrigated. The crisis there is one of insecurity and weak government. In June 2025, 2.9 million people had fled their homes, 1,827 schools were closed and only 19% of humanitarian needs were funded. More water does not help people who cannot farm safely.

At sea, West Africa accounted for over 40% of recorded illegal fishing by industrial ships between 2010 and 2022. The region loses about $9.4 billion a year to it. A World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement that bans subsidies for illegal fishing came into force on 15 September 2025. The sea is also rising faster on African coasts than the world average. Between 1999 and 2025 it rose by 5.2 millimetres a year on Africa's Indian Ocean coast and 5.6 millimetres on the Red Sea coast. Africa's coastal states lose fish to foreign fleets while the sea moves closer to their towns.

Senegal co-hosts the UN Water Conference with a strong record at home. In 2024, 88% of its people had basic drinking water at home and 62.5% had basic sanitation. Senegal signed the high-seas treaty in June 2025 but has not ratified it, although its waters lie in the region worst hit by illegal fishing. Its record at home gives it standing to ask other governments to do more. Ratifying before January would give Senegal a vote in the treaty's first decisions.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) went backwards. The share of its people with basic drinking water fell from 36.3% in 2015 to 35.7% in 2024. Basic sanitation fell from 17.7% to 16.3%. Ethiopia raised water access from 42% to 56%, while only one Ethiopian in ten has basic sanitation. Nigeria raised water access from 68% to 82%. These gains show that an African government can make fast progress on water within ten years.

Kenya ratified the high-seas treaty in September 2025 and helped bring the WTO fishing agreement into force. At home, only 40.9% of Kenyans have basic sanitation. Twenty African countries have ratified the high-seas treaty, among them Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Mauritania. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Tanzania have signed but not ratified it. Kenya shows that a country can lead on oceans abroad while still falling short on toilets at home.

Around Lake Chad, basic sanitation reaches 13.1% of people in Chad and 16.3% in Niger. Niger left the regional military force fighting armed groups in March 2025, after donors suspended money for its programme to restore order. Water and sanitation cannot improve where the state and its partners have pulled back.

Water and toilets at school decide whether girls stay in school and whether disease spreads through classrooms. They are budget lines that governments control. The Water Conference in Abu Dhabi will hold one session on water for people and one on investment. Senegal can use its role as co-host to present a costed plan for schools, backed by national budgets. Such a plan could be checked a year later, school by school. Parents would then know which promises reached their own children's classrooms.

The Nile dispute is moving towards outside patrons. The 2025 floods showed the cost of running the largest dam in Africa without flow data that all three countries can see. Shared rules for floods and droughts, built on shared data, would let the three countries manage the risk together. Without them, every flood will start a new diplomatic quarrel.

Water data is weakest where the stakes are highest. The three Nile countries keep no shared record of river flows. The recovery of Lake Chad was shown by satellites and foreign researchers. Governments that pay for their own river gauges and school surveys will negotiate from their own evidence.

Most African states lack full early warning, and their coasts face faster sea-level rise than the world average. The declaration brought no money, so money to adapt will be fought over at COP31, the UN climate summit in Antalya in November. Countries that ratify the high-seas treaty before January will help write its first rules.