The World Bank Group has approved a US$10 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund to support the Cubango-Okavango River Basin: Financing Innovation in Transboundary Waters Project.
The initiative will help capitalise and operationalise a dedicated endowment fund aimed at protecting one of Africa’s most ecologically significant transboundary river systems, shared by Angola, Botswana and Namibia.
The Cubango-Okavango River Basin (CORB) is home to the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and forms part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA). The basin supports the livelihoods of more than one million people who depend on its water resources, biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Despite its ecological and economic importance, the basin has faced a persistent gap in long-term sustainable financing to support coordinated natural resource management and resilient development across the three countries.
The project seeks to address that gap by supporting the capitalisation of the CORB Fund, an innovative financing mechanism established under the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM).
The GEF grant will provide US$4 million in seed capital for the endowment fund, which has a total capitalisation target of US$20 million to be raised through matching contributions from riparian states and international partners.
“Transboundary water basins require long-term, cooperative solutions that go beyond individual country boundaries,” said Anna Wellenstein, World Bank Group Regional Director for the Planet Department for Eastern and Southern Africa. “By supporting the establishment of a self-sustaining fund, the World Bank Group is creating the conditions for long-term environmental resilience that is the foundation for jobs and economic prosperity for communities that depend on this extraordinary river basin.”
Beyond capitalisation, the project will develop a pipeline of potential investments through pre-feasibility and feasibility studies in areas such as nature-based tourism, renewable energy and wetland restoration.
It will also strengthen governance, operational systems and monitoring capacity within the CORB Fund Secretariat, while supporting capacity building on the economics of biodiversity to guide future investment design.
“Delivered through the World Bank Group, this GEF support to operationalise and capitalise the CORB Fund marks a critical step toward securing sustainable financing for the globally significant Okavango Delta,” said Phera Ramoeli, Executive Secretary of OKACOM.
“This investment will help strengthen the basin’s long-term resilience while improving livelihoods for communities across the shared waters of Angola, Botswana and Namibia.”
The project will be implemented by OKACOM through the CORB Fund Secretariat, in alignment with parallel support from the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
