Zambezi Watercourse Commission Mozambique and flowing to the Indian Ocean. The Zambezi basin also includes parts of Malawi and Tanzania. The Zambezi is the fourth largest river in Africa after the Nile, Congo and Niger. The eight Zambezi Basin riparian states that participate in ZAMCOM are Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ZAMCOM operations are in line with the revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses. The SADC Protocol was adopted in 1995 and by SADC member states, including all Zambezi riparian states, and came into force in 1998. Seven of the riparian states signed the ZAMCOM Agreement on 13 July
Zambezi Watercourse Commission and sustainable development thereof". Poverty reduction is the first priority of SADC, and ZAMCOM has a primary goal of poverty reduction through the shared water resource. ZAMCOM must address the concerns of downstream users over extraction of water upstream. Thus Mozambique is concerned that its prawn industry in the Zambezi delta is not affected by reduced flows, and that the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric plant receives sufficient water. Planned upstream water abstractions include the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project in Zimbabwe that would bring water from the Zambezi to Bulawayo and its surrounding areas, as well as a proposed extension of the