Building Climate Resilience through Virtual Water and Nexus Thinking in the Southern African Development Community

This book puts the spotlight on Southern Africa, presentinga cutting-edge concept never previously explored in the context of climatechange and putting forward arguments for regional integration and cooperation.The Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF) is the newwater infrastructure program of the UK Department for International Development(DFID) for Southern Africa. The CRIDF promotes the establishment of small tomedium-scale infrastructure across the Southern African Development Community(SADC) through technical assistance aimed at developing sustainable pro-poorprojects, while also facilitating access to the financial resources needed todeliver said infrastructure. Further, it focuses on regional water resourcemanagement goals and basin plans, as well as on building climate resilience forthe beneficiary communities. The Facility’s Virtual Water and Nexus Projectworks to improve regional peace dividends by translating the Nexus concept intonational and regional policies; it ultimately promotes sovereign securitythrough greater regional integration across the water, food and energy sectors,while taking into account potential benefits in connection with carbonsequestration and emission mitigation.