Since SDP 2 first studied water use in 1994 many developments have taken place in the Kuiseb river catchment area and in the water management policy of Namibia. The depleted lower Kuiseb aquifer, the increasing cost of seawater desalination, and the role of farm dams have started to receive more attention. Meanwhile, communal Topnaar farmers in the central Namib Desert have reported lower yield from their !Nara fields (a nutritious cucurbit, indigenous to the dunes near the Kuiseb River) which provide the only cash crop available to them. They have also observed a decline and death of riverine acacia and other plant species.