10. Concluding Remarks

Over the course of this blog I have tried to attain a better understanding of water, food and development within Africa. Initially I began by outlining the various social, physical and economic factors that I foresaw as complicating the allocation, distribution and production of food across Africa. However, as I have researched more my ideas have changed. 

The following posts focused upon post-colonial water rights and were the first indication of how much of water and food in Africa was shaped by uneven power relationships at a political, economic, physical and social level. Consequently, in the posts that focus upon post-colonial water rights significant power is lent to countries such as Egypt and furthermore large industrial agricultural plants who are able to purchase water permits. Moreover, the occurrence of water rights was born of colonial rulers attempting to seize power over a resource and as some of these laws have persisted in the post-colonial era so to have the uneven power dynamics that facilitated it. 

I then dedicated two posts to the water-energy-food nexus approach which seemed pertinent to the blog and a relatively topical subject. The nexus approach proposed adopting an integrated approach to water, energy and food on the grounds that it would mitigate trade-offs and limit the occurrences of water projects that had severe impacts on other parts of the nexus that may previously have been permitted to happen. Furthermore, the nexus approach could be extended and operated within transboundary river basins, which is the main water resource for the majority of Africans. Consequently, the water, energy food nexus approach seemed to serve a useful purpose in overcoming the asymmetric power dynamics that complicated the debate in Africa. 

The next post featured mega-farms and discussed how these large-scale agricultural projects could help to ensure food security in Africa. However, the insurgence of these mega-farms is also criticized on the grounds of its implication for local communities and farmers. Following this I examined how water and food may change under conditions of climate change and it was established that African water and food development could be significantly stalled if climate change is allowed to continue at its current rate. Finally, we revisited the idea of insurgences of western agricultural projects in the form of land and water grabs. This similarly permitted a discussion of how asymmetric power dynamics facilitated an uneven development of water and food in Africa. 

Consequently, the process of blogging has been an invaluable and instructive one and I believe that my ideas have evolved from originally what was a fairly basic understanding of some of the factors that complicated water, food and development in Africa. To, presently, where I have gained an understanding of what underlying mechanisms have perpetuated these challenges and what approaches may serve as key to overcoming them in order for water and food to serve as an effective vehicle for African development.