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LIMCOM @20

Summary

The journey has indeed been long but worthwhile.
From several bilateral and regional initiatives, the four countries that share the Limpopo River – Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe – came together on that momentous day on 27 November 2003, to sign the LIMCOM Agreement to establish the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM)

The journey has indeed been long but worthwhile.

From several bilateral and regional initiatives, the four countries that share the Limpopo River – Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe – came together on that momentous day on 27 November 2003, to sign the LIMCOM Agreement to establish the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM).

The main objectives of LIMCOM as stipulated in the LIMCOM Agreement is “to advise the Contracting Parties (Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and provide recommendations on the uses of the Limpopo, its tributaries and its waters for purpose and measures of protection, preservation and management of the Limpopo.”

This is in line with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses, which aims to foster closer cooperation among Member States for the protection, management and use of shared watercourses in the region.

Closer cooperation among the four Limpopo Member States has seen the countries promote a cooperative spirit within the basin on how to manage and preserve the Limpopo River Basin, which has an estimated catchment area of about 408,000 km² and a population of over 18 million people.

As we celebrate 20 years since the signing of the LIMCOM Agreement, the LIMCOM Secretariat wishes to thank the Limpopo Member States, all stakeholders in the Limpopo Basin, particularly the “people of the basin” as well as its partners for supporting LIMCOM in ensuring that the Limpopo River Basin is “A Dynamic, Prosperous and Sustainable River Basin for All”.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, the 14th LIMCOM Ordinary Meeting scheduled for Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on 30 November 2023 will among other things showcase and reflect on the journey travelled to-date as well as discuss how to deepen and promote transboundary cooperation in the Limpopo River Basin.

You can read more about LIMCOM and the Limpopo River Basin here