Consolidating the development of national action plans for the basin

The flow of cooperation continues to build across the Limpopo River Basin (LRB) as Mozambique hosts its National Action Plan (NAP) formulation workshop to consolidate the development of its national plan for the basin.

With Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa also advancing their NAPs processes through successful inception workshops held in July, August and September respectively, Mozambique has progressed to the actual working session to brainstorm the required interventions to address challenges identified in the Limpopo Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) report.

The Mozambique NAP working session that was held in Chokwe on 6-8 October 2025, brought together a wide range of stakeholders including those from the water, energy, agriculture and tourism sectors.

Over the coming weeks and months, each LIMCOM country will continue to be engaged in targeted national consultations to refine and finalize their NAPs.

These efforts will culminate into a basin-wide NAP meeting scheduled for November 2025, where all four countries will converge to share experiences, harmonize approaches and develop a unified strategy to respond to the transboundary environmental problems for the entire basin.

The NAPs, tailored to each country’s unique context, are the building blocks of a comprehensive Strategic Action Plan (SAP) that will guide sustainable development across the entire Limpopo basin.

While the NAPs zoom in on national priorities, the SAP zooms out to tackle basin-wide challenges identified in the Limpopo TDA report, which was adopted in June 2025.

Some of the key challenges identified by the TDA report include land degradation, sedimentation and deteriorating water quality.

The TDA/SAP and NAP process is part of the ambitious project “Integrated Transboundary River Basin Management for the Sustainable Development of the Limpopo River Basin,” spearheaded by LIMCOM in partnership with the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) and the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), through funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

As LIMCOM Senior Technical Advisor, Dr. Ebenizario Chonguica aptly put it, “We are not just planning for our individual countries. We are co-authoring a blueprint for the basin.”