WBI Cameroon

The Water: A Business Imperative - Cameroon roundtable took place on May 4th, 2010 in Douala. The event was hosted by Guinness Cameroon.

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The WBI Cameroon White Paper

Water: A Business Imperative is a series of business roundtables sponsored by Diageo in support of the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate’s aim of advancing existing corporate practice around water and identifying the role businesses can play in supporting effective and fair water policies. Organised in partnership with the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), the roundtables are being held across Africa (Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa) to discuss corporate engagement with water issues and to catalyse action around responsible water management. Diageo and IBLF believe that the private sector has a very important role to play in how the continent’s water is managed.

Guinness Cameroon SA (GCSA) hosted the third roundtable in Douala on 4 May 2010. Participants at the meeting included representatives of Diageo Africa, GCSA, ALUCAM, AES-SONEL, GTS FILTREX, FEICOM, UNILEVER, ADER, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, ASPEF, SAF-EAU Cameroon, Water for All, Volcanic, Life and Water Development, MUTCARE, GEOFOR, SIC-CACAOS, CDE, AME, and other public, private, and civil society organisations.

The ultimate objective of this initiative is to facilitate corporate engagement in responsible water management. To understand the local context for water issues, participants at Water: A Business Imperative – Cameroon discussed the current state of water public policy in the country and the difficulties they face around water issues. They shared their own experiences addressing water challenges and the reasons for their involvement in Water: A Business Imperative. Finally, participants considered how they could work together, and with other stakeholders, to move Cameroon towards responsible water management in a manner that reduces business risks and positively impacts communities and ecosystems.

These initial discussions will provide policy makers and international organisations such as the United Nations with a basis to begin engagement with key private sector water users across Africa. The action points and partnerships arising from Water: A Business Imperative are seen as a step towards creating an enabling business environment in the context of climate change concerns, water scarcity and water quality issues.

This paper summarises the action points, commitments and calls to action agreed upon by the participants. It will be combined with the outcomes from the other roundtables in Africa and will be presented at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in June 2010 to insert an African business perspective into global discussions on water issues and on corporate engagement in water public policy.

Summary of challenges for businesses

Businesses, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations present at the forum all agreed on four key challenges in the water sector of Cameroon. Sub challenges under each main challenge were also identified and discussed.

1. Governance

1. Inadequate legal framework for a conducive operating and legal environment in the water sector, which affects the interest and participation of stakeholders.
2. Inadequate planning tools to help with effective decision making and involvement, especially business and investment planning tools and mechanism.
3. Insufficient financing frameworks in the sector limiting the level of funding required for projects and programmes.

2. Investment

1. Lack of coordination of potential sources of investment to leverage available resources in Cameroon.
2. Inadequate investment in the provision of water supply services. Even at 100% of operation, only 30% of Cameroonians can get direct access to public water supply.

3. Capacity

1. Shortage of skills andcapacity within the water sector to meet emerging challenges.
2. Inadequate support for research and development on new technologies to meet the challenges in the water sector.
3. Insufficient tools and processes to meet the water treatment demand in Cameroon in order to reduce the high levels of water borne diseases. Diarrhoea alone is responsible for 10% of all deaths in Cameroon.

4. Resource Protection

1. Inadequate capacity to communicate necessary information and raise awareness to most needy populations.
2. Low implementation of policies and laws governing water resources protection. n.
3. A high level of non-revenue water in the utilities with over 40% of water unaccounted for in utilities.
4. Climate change is exerting even more pressure on the very limited water resources. Lake Chad has shrunk over 90% in 50 years and may disappear in two decades.
5. Inadequate awareness and involvement of stakeholders in trans-boundary water resources management

Business benefits

Most of the organisations present at the forum were involved in a water project either to improve supply for production internally, to improve the quality of effluent from their plants, or to improve water services in the communities they work. The major water projects where businesses (and NGOs working for businesses) expressed the benefits they got from the projects are as follows;

1. Guinness Cameroon: Internally, it’s investing over 7 billion FCFA to construct an effluent treatment plant to treat waste and provide clean water to the environment. Through its “Water of Life” programme, it has provided potable water to over 200,000 people in Cameroon by constructing boreholes and stand taps in various localities and is also empowering communities to promote hygiene and sanitation. These activities have enhanced the business’ good relationship with communities in Cameroon.
2. AES-SONEL & ALUCAM: Internally, ALUCAM uses huge amount of water in production. Externally, it’s also focused on providing water to schools and hygiene education in partnership with AES SONEL, a hydropower company. About 15 communities have benefited from this programme around the Sanaga maritime region in Cameroon

Summary of Agreed Solutions

The roundtable participants agreed that they should create a network of businesses concerned about water issues in Cameroon and committed to developing solutions to the challenges identified. Thus the Cameroon Business Water Network (CBWN) was born. Furthermore, the roundtable participants agreed that Guinness Cameroon would lead, coordinate, and host the CBWN. With reference to guidelines developed by the Global Compact CEO Water Mandate, the CBWN will contribute to the development of effective water public policies and strategies (by providing relevant data and information on water use and community engagement), support the monitoring of policy implementation, monitor business water and wastewater benchmarking/management, support research and development for sustainable solutions, and organise stakeholder forums to engage all concerned.

Key partnerships and collaborations were proposed at the forum, and some business commitments to improving their activities were reiterated. These include:

1. Guinness Cameroon committed to improving access to safe water to 200 thousand people in Cameroon; reducing the effluent from its plants by 60%; investing about £7million in an effluent treatment plant; improving its water use efficiency by 30%; and reducing water wastage in its operations by 50%. All these to be achieved by the end of 2010.
2. Ministry of Energy and Water Resources - Guinness Cameroon partnership aimed at educating the public on water resources and environmental protection issues, and to support the search for efficient and effective solutions to effluent treatment and management in Cameroon.
3. ALUCAM – Ministry of Energy and Water Resources partnership aimed at the rehabilitation of SCAN Water stations across Cameroon to help improve access to potable water for Cameroonians.
4. MUTCARE - Guinness Cameroon partnership aimed at the implementation of the Guinness Water of Life project in Cameroon, with a target of providing potable water to 200,000 people in rural communities in Cameroon. The partnership will be focused on contributing to the MDG Goal on water.
5. Life and Water Development Group - Guinness Cameroon partnership aimed at improving point of use water quality in the communities by training users on the Bio-sand filters water filtration system. This will help to reduce water borne diseases like diarrhoea.
6. AES SONEL – ALUCAM partnership aimed at improving the public awareness of water resources as it affects all aspects of our lives. The awareness programme should help in the protection and conservative use of water.

Call to action

The participants agreed that government is responsible for water policy development and regulation, investment in the water sector, capacity development in the sector, monitoring of policy and projects implementation and sector reform programmes. Participants also agreed that the government will need the support of other key stakeholders in the water sector. A call to action was agreed by the participants for key stakeholders to support the government in the improvement of water services to the public and to take the right steps towards the attainment of the MGD goals on water. The call to action was in line with the identified key challenges in the sector as follows:

1. Governance: a call to action to the Government (Ministry of Energy and Water Resources) to develop tools for an effective legal framework, long term planning (business plans and investment plans), and sector financing mechanisms that will help attract key stakeholders to fully participate in the sector; Business, to support government in the development of appropriate financing mechanism and business plans; NGOs to support the government in the strengthening of human resources in the sector; External support partners to support the government in the development of a conducive legal and operating environment
2. Investment: a call to action to the Government to establish a Cameroon Water Trust Fund, where businesses, NGOs, and Donor/External support partners can make contributions with the funds being used to fill the investment gap in the water sector; to partner with major companies in Cameroon for the improvement of business and planning skills in the sector and in the development of systems to help attract investment to the sector.
3. Capacity: a call to action to NGOs to organise workshop sessions to build capacity in the water sector of Cameroon; the Government to establish an award for the business sector to recognise businesses that are supporting the government and people of Cameroon in the provision and management of water; Businesses to establish scholarship programmes and support research and development in the area of water resource management.
4. Resource Protection: a call to action to the Government to work with Universities and students in educating the public on the need to protect and manage water resources and the impact of climate change on Cameroon; Businesses to reduce water use, minimise wastage, manage effluent responsibly in their operations, and put in place a team to monitor agreed targets on water use and effluent discharge and quality.