ECA urges climate-risk planning for African hydropower

ClimateEnergia

Tuesday 3rd November 2026

Claver Gatete speaking at the Borrowers’ Platform launch in Washington in April 2026; file photograph — Claver Gatete at the Borrowers’ Platform launch in Washington, April 2026. File photograph, not the hydro symposium. Photo: UN WebTV / UN Trade and Development, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

By inAfrika Newsroom

African hydropower planners need to account for changing water supplies and strengthen cross-border electricity trade, UN Economic Commission for Africa executive secretary Claver Gatete said at the opening of the 36th African Hydro Symposium in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

In remarks dated 3 November, Gatete said droughts, floods and shifts in rainfall affect power generation and infrastructure. He called for shared river-basin information and coordination among countries that depend on the same water resources.

The meeting is being convened by ECA, the Kafue Gorge Regional Training Centre, Ethiopian Electric Power and the International Centre on Small Hydropower. Its focus is climate resilience and water–energy security.

Gatete said the African Union’s Continental Energy Security Policy Framework was due to be launched during the symposium. The AU’s specialised technical committee on transport and energy approved it in April, he said.

He also urged stronger feasibility studies, environmental and social assessments, and financing arrangements that account for climate risks. A planned agreement between the African Energy Commission and the Kafue Gorge Regional Training Centre would support hydropower training, according to his statement.

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