Africa faces an annual financing gap of nearly USD 30 billion in the water and sanitation sector, a major obstacle to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6. Meeting from August 13 to 15, 2025, in Cape Town, African leaders, international partners, and experts adopted the Cape Town Declaration on Water Investments, an ambitious roadmap aimed at mobilizing additional resources, attracting new investors, and aligning projects with climate financing. Amid a health emergency, economic losses estimated at 5% of GDP, and hopes for a new pact for water, the continent is now seeking to transform its commitments into concrete actions.
According to estimates by the African Union (AU) and the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), Africa needs to invest at least USD 45 billion annually in water and sanitation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, while less than a third of this amount is currently mobilized, leaving a gaping hole of approximately USD 30 billion each year. In an attempt to address this situation and deliver meaningful results, the AU-AIP 2025 Summit, held from August 13 to 15, 2025, placed Africa at the center of the global water agenda. By giving visibility to concrete projects and adopting an ambitious roadmap, this summit sent a clear signal: the continent is no longer content to plead its case, it is proposing solutions and demanding results.
We must treat water as a fundamental infrastructure not just for survival, but as a foundation for our economic transformation. It is an economic infrastructure. We must protect it from climate threats as well as from inefficiency. Inefficiency and climate impacts cost Africa $200 million every year.
Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO for the AUDA-NEPAD
Among the measures already undertaken to reduce the financing gap for water and sanitation in Africa, on August 15, 2025, after three days of work, delegates to the AU-AIP Water Summit adopted the Cape Town Declaration on Water Investments, considered a pivotal step in the battle to close the sector’s financing gap. This text aims to mobilize more domestic resources, create an attractive investment climate, develop innovative financial instruments, and align water and sanitation projects with climate financing.
As a multilateral institution, we commit between USD 10 and USD 20 billion in annual financing for the water sector. Our goal is to scale up this commitment to achieve greater results and impact.
Mtchera Johannes Chirwa, Director of the Water and Sanitation Department at the AfDB
Behind the numbers, this deficit has serious repercussions. In Africa, nearly 400 million people still lack access to a safe source of drinking water, while more than 700 million live without adequate sanitation facilities, according to the United Nations Development Infrastructure Programme. According to experts, this situation prevents the continent from fully achieving SDG 6 and contributes to the persistence of waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and childhood diarrhea, which are responsible for more than 300,000 deaths each year. The lack of quality water and sanitation also results in an economic loss estimated at between 2% and 5% of annual GDP in several countries.
Nearly 400 million people on the continent lack access to safe drinking water, and 700 million do not have access to adequate sanitation. In addition, the economic sector does not receive all the water it needs to thrive.
Jakaya Kikwete, Co-chair of the IAP High Level Group
Despite these challenges, industry players are showing some confidence. The commitments made in Cape Town are expected to mobilize an additional USD 10 to 12 billion per year over the next five years, gradually closing the financing gap. If this momentum is maintained, it could place Africa on a more sustainable trajectory by strengthening population resilience, improving public health, and supporting economic growth.
