Nile River Basin Case Study

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Nile River Basin Case Study

• Elaine B. Darby
• CE 397 Fall 2005

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The Basin
Nile
Sudd Swamp
Blue Nile
White Nile
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Basin Population

• Ten Riparian States
• Egypt
• Sudan
• Ethiopia
• Uganda
• Rwanda
• Tanzania
• Kenya
• D.R. Congo
• Eritrea
• Burundi

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Issues in the Nile Basin

• Ethiopia
• Generates 85 water reaching Egypts Aswah Dam
• Second most populated riparian state
• The Single most important strategic interest is
  striving to attain food security in a chronically
  famine-prone regionand all scenarios involve
  more intense use of the western Nile watershed
  Waterbury

• Egypt
• 96 of population live in Nile Delta/Basin
• Entirely dependent on Nile waters Only 4 from
  underground reserves
• Considered the most powerful riparian state in
  basin

• Sudan
• 60 of Land Mass in Basin
• Sudd Swamp Evap loss of 50 of all Water in
  White Nile
• Civil war
• Historically always sided with Egypt in Nile
  Issues

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Unique Issues to Nile Basin

• Historic precedence
• Colonial and Egyptian control
• Egypt and Northern Sudan do not contribute to
  water generation in the Nile
• Majority of the riparian states became
  independent nations since the 1960s
• Political and economic basis weak

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International Agreements

• 1899 Anglo-Egyptian
• No water withdrawn upstream of Egypt without
  Egyptian and British consent
• 1929 Egyptian and British Agreement
• British represented Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan
• 93 water of Nile allocated to Egypt, 7 to Sudan
• All upstream projects approved by Egypt
• 1959 Egypt and Sudan
• 75 to Egypt, 25 to Sudan
• Rejected by all of the other riparian states when
  they became independent

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Water Allocation in the Basin
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Riparian States Interests

• Status Quo
• Egypt
• Uganda
• New Allocations
• Ethiopia
• Sudan
• Eritrea
• Indifferent
• Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi

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Current Situations

• The ultimate nightmare for Egypt would be for
  Ethiopia and the Sudan to overcome their domestic
  obstacles to development and to examine their
  shared interests in joint development of the
  watershedgiven Ethiopian and Sudanese regional
  behavior in the 1990s, Egypt need not lose
  sleep. Waterbury, 2002, The Nile Basin

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How do you allocate the water in the Nile?
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Beaumonts Proposal50/50 Historical/Generation
Proposed Allocation
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Equitable and Reasonable

• Beaumont (1997) 50 generation/50 historical
  usage

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Brichier-Colomba (1996) 33 weight to each
factor
Population of Riparians country in
BasinRiparian's Area of BasinAverage amount
of water used
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Brichier-Colomba (1996)33 weight to each factor
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What factors do you think should considered for
allocations in the Nile Basin?
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Waterburys CriteriaEqual Weighting for each
factor

• The proportion of water flowing across a
  riparian's border to the total discharge of the
  water course
• The proportion of the ripairan's total population
  living in the basin
• The total amount of irrigable land that could be
  farmed with watercourse water without extra-basin
  transfers
• The amount of alternative, utilizable water
  available in aquifers, regionally appropriate
  rainfall and stored water (deductions)
• A basin needs per cap allocation to protect life
  and basic health
• An allocation necessary to protect existing
  wetland and nature's "use rights"

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Whats Happening in the Basin?
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Recent History of Cooperation

• 1992 Council of Ministers of Water Affairs
  (Nile-COM) all ten riparian states represented
• 1995 Nile River Basin Action Plan develop a
  co-operative framework for management of the Nile
  endorsed by all

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Nile Basin Initiative

• Goal To achieve sustainable socioeconomic
  development through the equitable utilization of,
  and benefit from the common resources
• Objectives
• Develop water resources in a sustainable and
  equitable way to ensure prosperity, security and
  peace for all its people
• To ensure efficient water management and optimal
  use
• To ensure cooperation and joint action between
  states
• To target poverty eradication and promote
  economic integration
• To ensure the program results in a move from
  planning to action

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Recent Cooperation cont

• 1997 World Bank agrees to play a lead role in
  coordinating external finances
• 1997 Egypt announces (unilaterally) New Nile
  Valley Development
• 1998 Shared Vision Plan of NBI developed
• 1999 Approved list of priority projects/Nile
  Basin Initiative formally established (legal
  status for NBI)

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New Valley South Egypt Development Plan

• 1997 New Valley Plan Announced
• Add approx. 49 million acres of irrigated lands
• New Canal to provide water from the Nile
• Strongly opposed by Ethiopian government

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Recent Developments, cont.

• 2001 Sub-Basin agreements between Egypt, Sudan
  and Ethiopia
• Agreement to build dams and expand irrigation
  within Ethiopia with the plan to sell power to
  Sudan and Egypt
• Sept. 28, 2005 Largest ever dam to be built in
  Ethiopia at Kara Dobe on the Awash River with
  Sudan and Egypt providing financial support

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Nile Basin Initiatives

• 2001 Shared Vision Plans formulated
• 2002 2005 Goals and Funding plans approved
• 2005 Applied Training Programs begin

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Shared Vision Project Portfolio

• Applied Training
• Nile Transboundary Environmental Action
• Nile Basin Regional Power Trade
• Water for Agriculture
• Water Resources Planning and Management
• Confidence-Building and Stakeholder Involvement
• Socio-economic Development and Benefit Sharing

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Questions for Discussion

• Peter Beaumont, proposes a water allocation
  scheme to fit the equitable and reasonable call
  in the 1997 UN Convention on a 50 generation/50
  historical split. Do you feel this is applicable
  to the Nile River Basin? (Reference pages 486
  488 and pages 491 494).
• In contrast to the Egyptians Century Storage
  Scheme of 1946 the Nile Basin Initiative did not
  start with specific water projects, but rather
  education, development of skilled personnel and
  inclusiveness of all stakeholders. Will this
  work? What do you think will be the primary
  factors in achieving development in a reasonable
  time frame? Or is the lack of specific projects
  in the NBI causing individual countries to move
  forward with building projects?