Transboundary river basin management regimes: the Nile basin case study

Full text

d
ANALYSIS OF TRANSBOUNDARY
REGIMES
Case study basin the Nile
NeWater Deliverable 1.3.1
Report of the NeWater project -
New Approaches to Adaptive Water Management under Uncertainty
www.newater.info

Title Analysis of transboundary regimes - Case study basin Nile
Purpose Working paper to provide background information on
transboundary issues in the Nile River basin with a focus on
information management and institutional design
Filename D131_Nile_191005.doc
Authors Jos G. Timmerman, RIZA
Document history First draft 040805
Final draft 191005
Current version. Final draft
Changes to previous version. Additional information on financial arrangements and power
balances included
Date Wednesday, 19 October 2005
Status Draft
Target readership NeWater research community
General readership External experts at selected workshops
Correct reference Timmerman, J.G. (2005), Analysis of Transboundary regimes
– Case study basin the Nile, Appendix to Deliverable 1.3.1. of
the NeWater project, Lelystad
Jos G. Timmerman
Institute for Inland Water Management and Waste Water Treatment (RIZA)
October 2005
Prepared under contract from the European Commission
Contract no 511179 (GOCE)
Integrated Project in
PRIORITY 6.3 Global Change and Ecosystems
in the 6th EU framework programme
Deliverable title: Analysis of transboundary regimes. Case study basin Nile
Deliverable no. : D 1.3.1
Due date of deliverable: Month
Actual submission date: 10.10.2005
Start of the project: 01.01.2005
Duration: 4 years

Table of contents
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................. 1
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Basin description.................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Main (transboundary) issues.................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Cooperation between the countries........................................................................................ 5
2 Description regime ......................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Water law............................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Formal actors ......................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Water policy......................................................................................................................... 10
2.4 Informal actors..................................................................................................................... 11
2.5 Institutional change.............................................................................................................. 13
2.6 Financial arrangements........................................................................................................ 15
2.7 Power balance...................................................................................................................... 15
3 Information management.............................................................................................................. 16
3.1 Specification of information goals, needs & strategy.......................................................... 16
3.2 Information production........................................................................................................ 18
3.3 Communication.................................................................................................................... 19
3.4 Information utilisation ......................................................................................................... 20
4 Evaluation ‘Adaptiveness’............................................................................................................ 22
4.1 Formal actors and informal networks .................................................................................. 22
4.2 Legal framework.................................................................................................................. 23
4.3 Policy development and implementation.............................................................................23
4.4 Information management..................................................................................................... 23
4.5 Financial arrangements........................................................................................................ 24
4.6 Conclusion on adaptiveness of the Nile River Basin water management regime................ 24
5 List of references .......................................................................................................................... 26
6 Annex I: Basic statistics on Nile basin countries (FAO 2005)..................................................... 28
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Acknowledgements
The author likes to thank Tom Raadgever for his critical comments to this report, Samuel
Luzi, Simon Mason and Koen Roest for providing valuable inputs and comments to the
report and Ilonka Zaborszky for collecting much of the information and papers used for the
report.
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1 Introduction
1.1 Basin description
The geography of the Nile Basin is both distinct and varied. From the most remote source at
the head of the River Luvironzo near Lake Tanganyika, to its mouth on the Mediterranean
Sea, at 6695 km the Nile is the longest river in the world. Some 2.9 million km2 in extent,
overall the basin drains about 10 percent of the continent. It is a confluence of the Blue Nile
stemming from Lake T’ana in Ethiopia and the White Nile, stemming from Lake Victoria in
Uganda. The Nile and its tributaries flow though ten countries, the White Nile flows though
Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt, the Blue Nile flows through Ethiopia, while Kenya, Tanzanian,
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Burundi all have tributaries, which
flow into the Nile or into lake Victoria Nyanes. The Nile River's average discharge is about
300 million cubic metres per day (ca. 3500 m3/s) at its mouth. The Nile gets its name from
the Greek word "Nelios", meaning River Valley.
The Blue Nile rises at a spring site upstream of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, 2,150 m above sea
level. The river flows west then north until it eventually meets the White Nile at Khartoum.
A length of 800 km is navigable during high water times.
The Ruvyironza, regarded as the ultimate source of the Nile, is one of the upper branches of
the Kagera River. The Kagera River follows the boundary of Rwanda northward, turns
where the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania meet, and drains into Lake Victoria. On
leaving Lake Victoria at the site of the now-submerged Owen Falls, the Nile rushes for 483
km over rapids and cataracts, at first northwest and then west, until it enters Lake Albert. The
section between the two lakes is called the Victoria Nile. The river leaves the northern end of
Lake Albert as the Albert Nile, flows through northern Uganda, and at the Sudan border
becomes the Bahr al Jabal. At its junction with the Bahr al Ghazal, the river becomes the
Bahr al Abyad, or the White Nile. Various tributaries flow through the Bahr al Ghazal
district. A major tributary of the White Nile is the River Sobat coming from Ethiopia.
At Khartoum the Blue Nile, or Bahr al Azraq joins the White Nile. These are so named
because of the colour of the water. From Khartoum the Nile flows northeast. 322 km below
Khartoum it is joined by the ‘Atbarah River. The black sediment brought down by the
'Atbarah and Blue Nile Rivers used to settle in the Nile delta making it very fertile. This
process historically occurred during the annual flooding of the Nile in the summer months.
However, the opening of the Aswan High Dam in the early 1970s allowed for control of the
flooding and reduced sediment deposits in the river as these now settle in Lake Nasser.
During its course from the confluence of the ‘Atbarah through the Nubian Desert, the river
makes two deep bends. From Khartoum to Aswan there are six cataracts. The Nile is
navigable to the second cataract, a distance of 1,545 km. The water level behind the Aswan
Dam fell from 170 m in 1979 to 150 m in 1988, threatening Egypt's hydroelectric power
generation. 86% of the Nile water in Egypt originates from Ethiopia. The delta of the Nile is
190 km wide (Anonymous 2005a; Nicol and Shahin 2003; Nile Basin Initiative 2005b).
1.2 Main (transboundary) issues
Today, the Nile Basin faces the challenges of poverty (4 of its riparian countries are among
the 10 poorest in the world), instability (conflicts in the Great Lakes, Sudan, and the Horn of
Africa), rapid population growth, and severe environmental degradation (especially in the
East African highlands). But joint regional development of the Nile offers significant
opportunities for cooperative management and development that will catalyse greater
regional integration for socioeconomic development, making it possible to meet these
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challenges. These socioeconomic benefits will exceed the direct benefits from the river alone
(Economic Commission for Africa 2004). We will discuss the main issues here.
Agricultural water use
Agricultural water use is the most important use of the water in all the Nile basin countries.
On average 85% of the water use is utilised for agricultural purposes (see Table 4). In Egypt
and Sudan the amount of water used for irrigation is almost as much as the total annual
renewable water resources. Approximately on third of the total water abstraction from the
Nile River is used for irrigation in Egypt (El-Sebae 1989)}.
Hydroelectric power production
The Nile River is an important source of hydroelectric power. Several dams have been
constructed for this purpose. Table 2 provides an overview of the power production and the
hydroelectric power consumption change between 1990 and 2000 in the Nile Basin
countries. It is clear that hydroelectric power will play an increasing role in water
management.
Erosion and siltation
Agricultural and grazing lands are being degraded through erosion and siltation, and
wetlands and forests are being lost. Deforestation and soil erosion can lead to increased
sedimentation and greater flood risks downstream, while sediments also accumulate in
wetlands and reservoirs. Also, the water quality is declining while pollution from urban,
industrial and agricultural sources is increasing. Urbanisation and industrialisation often lead
to greater pollution of the Nile River and its tributaries as pollution prevention and treatment
measures generally do not keep pace with this development. Increased use and improper
application of pesticides and fertilisers, especially in the large irrigation schemes in the
northern reaches of the Basin, lead to increased runoff and pollution of drainage canals.
Table 1 Socioeconomic differences between states (Nicol and Shahin 2003)
Country Pop.
(millions)
Surface area
(1997):
thousand
km2
Pop. per
km2
(1997) Annual Pop.
Growth % GNI per
capita US$
GDP:
billion
US$
Burundi 6.8 27.8 265 2 110 0.7
DRC 51.3 2,344.9 23 3 n/a N/a
Egypt 63.8 1,001.5 64.1 1.8 1,490 98.3
Eritrea 4 117.6 41. 3 170 0.6
Ethiopia 64 1,104.3 64 2 100 6.3
Kenya 30.1 580.4 53 2.3 360 10.4
Rwanda 8.5 26.3 345 2 250 1.8
Sudan 29.7 2,505.8 12 2 320 11.2
Tanzania 33.7 945.1 38 2 280 9.3
Uganda 22 241 111 3 310 6.3
Total 313.9 8,893.9 1,016 23.1 n/a 144.9
Average 31.39 889.39 101.6 2.31 376.6
(237.5) 16.1 (5.8)
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Figure 1. The Nile basin (Mason 2005)}.
Ecosystems
Water-dependent ecosystems throughout the Nile Basin contribute to the stability, resistance
and resilience of both natural and human systems to stress and sudden changes. In particular,
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significant transboundary benefits derive from the Basin’s wetlands in maintaining water
quality, trapping sediment, retaining nutrients, buffering floods, stabilising micro-climates
and providing storm protection. Key plant and animal species often have habitats in
adjoining countries, requiring cross-border protected areas and other conservation measures
for effective management. For example, the Nile is a principal flyway for birds migrating
between central Africa and Mediterranean Europe, and Nile wetlands in a variety of
countries provide indispensable habitats for these birds. Water hyacinth and other invasive
aquatic weeds have spread throughout many parts of the Nile Basin, impairing the functions
of natural ecosystems, threatening fisheries and interfering with transportation. The
overexploitation of natural resource is continuing, and waterborne diseases are proliferating.
Water-borne diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and bilharzia (schistosomiasis) are prevalent
throughout the Basin and thus of major concern the Nile countries. Finally, the harmful
impacts of floods and droughts are intensifying (Nile-COM 2001b).
Table 2 Present Use and potential hydroelectric power capacity (Mason 2003)
and consumption (World Resources Institute 2005).
Hydroelectric power production in
2000
Hydroelectric power consumption
Thousand metric tons oil
equivalent (ktoe)
Country Installed
(MW)
Potential (MW)(+ = in
addition to already
installed) 1990 2000
Increase
(%)
Burundi 40.8 + 120 - - -
D.R. Congo 23.1 2’600 (outside the Nile
Basin) 484 516 7
Egypt 2,845 + 138 854 1,219 43
Eritrea 0 0 -
Ethiopia 410 30’000 (in the entire
country) 91 142 56
Kenya 2 + 355 213 114 -46
Rwanda 34 + 121 - - -
Sudan 238 + 1,380 82 102 24
Tanzania 337 + 4,500 133 184 38
Uganda 180 5,000 - - -
Dams
The Aswan High dam is an example of a dam that stores the flood. It can store 1.5 times the
average annual flow of the Nile River (150-165 km3) in the artificial Lake Nasser and has
provided a high degree of protection to the lower Nile simply by retaining the whole flood.
At the same time the beneficial aspects of natural flooding – for example restoring the
fertility of the floodplain – have been lost (World Commission on Dams 2000).
1.3 Cooperation between the countries
Especially irrigation and hydroelectric power production require cooperation between the
countries because of limited water availability, making water availability and allocation the
most pressing transboundary issue. Cooperation is however not easily established. The Nile
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countries are in a situation with a finite amount of water resources that have to be used by a
population that is increasing by 2–3% annually (see Table 4). There is no agreement on
water allocation between the countries that is accepted by all and their national socio-
economic and political capacity to find alternatives to present water use trends is limited.
Egypt and Sudan for instance uphold the principle of “acquired rights” and the validity of the
Agreement of 1959 while the upstream countries seek to negotiate a new Nile waters
agreement. There have been diplomatic tensions and instances of threatening and concerned
rhetoric between the countries of the Nile, especially between Egypt and Ethiopia.
International investment in water resource development has been blocked, due to
disagreement between the countries. The downstream countries are concerned about a
decrease in water flow due to upstream water resource development. And the upstream
countries are concerned about the downstream countries hindering their water resource
development (Mason 2003).
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2 Description regime
2.1 Water law
Most of the agreements on the Nile Basin were made either between colonisers or bilateral
agreement between Sudan and Egypt. The Basin countries themselves have invested
substantial effort in the 1990s to develop confidence and vision for the future, which is based
on cooperation, consideration for the environment and the efficient use of water
(Anonymous 2005b). This section will shortly discuss the most important agreements in the
Nile Basin.
The Anglo-Italian Protocol of April 15, 1891 defines the colonial territorial claims of Great
Britain and Italy in East Africa. Only Article III of this treaty refers to the Nile water where
it states: "the Italian government engages not to construct on the Atbara River, in view of
irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile".
The Treaty between Great Britain and Ethiopia of May 15, 1902 aims to establish the border
between Ethiopia and the Sudan. Article number III reads: "His Majesty the Emperor
Menilik II, King of Kings of Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of His
Britannic Majesty not to construct or allow to be constructed any work across the Blue Bile,
Lake Tana, or the Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters except in agreement
with His Britannic Majesty’s Government and the Government of Sudan".
The Tripartite (Britain-France-Italy) Treaty of December 13, 1906 deals with the use of the
Nile water in Ethiopia’s sub-basin. It states: "To act together... to safeguard; ... the interests
of Great Britain and Egypt in the Nile Basin, more especially as regards the regulation of the
waters of that river and its tributaries (due consideration being paid to local interests) without
prejudice to Italian interests".
The Agreement between Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan of 7th May 1929 included
utilisation of the annual Nile flow (Egypt and Sudan utilise 48 and 4 billion cubic meters
respectively), the flow of the Nile during January 20 to July 15 (dry season) would be
reserved for Egypt, Egypt reserves the right to monitor the Nile flow in the upstream
countries, Egypt assumed the right to undertake Nile river related projects without the
consent of upper riparian states, and Egypt assumed the right to veto any construction
projects that would affect her interests adversely.
The 1959 Nile Agreement between the Sudan and Egypt for Full Utilization of Nile waters.
The Objective of this Agreement was to gain full control and utilisation of the annual Nile
flow. The agreement created the legal foundation for allocating water between the two
countries before building the Aswan High Dam. The agreement allocated the net benefit of
the Aswan High Dam project at a ratio of 14.5 (66%) to Sudan and 7.5 (34%) to Egypt –
under condition that the average yield of the Nile river was to remain the same as between
1900–1959 (84 km³/year) and the losses of the project remained as estimated (10 km³/year).
The basic allocation of the entire discharge was 55.5 billion cubic meters for Egypt and 18.5
billion cubic meters for the Sudan (Anonymous 2005b; Mason 2003).
Tecconile (Technical Cooperation Committee for the Promotion of Development and
Environmental Protection of the Nile Basin) came into being in December 1992 with six
member states: Egypt, the Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zaire. Ethiopia, Kenya,
Eritrea, and Burundi were observers. Between1997 and 2001, considerable progress was
made in designing the structures of a new regime in the basin. The Nile Basin Initiative in
which 9 of the 10 Nile countries are active members replaced Tecconile in 1999
(Anonymous 2005b; Mason 2003; Nile-COM 2001b). Earlier attempts at multilateral
cooperation ultimately failed because countries such as Ethiopia or Kenya only had an
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observer status. The observer status of Ethiopia and Kenya was partly due to their perception
that the fora were dominated by Egypt, and partly because of the lack of importance given to
the issue (Mason 2003).
Until the middle of the twentieth century the general attitude towards sharing of international
waters was absolute sovereignty of a country over its territory and a freedom to do what it
wished with waters flowing in international rivers through that territory (the Harmon
doctrine, see for instance Collins 2003; da Silva and others 1998; Mohamoda 2003; Nicol
and Shahin 2003) Both the Helsinki Rules of 1966 and the ILC (International Law
Commission) rules brought in concepts of cooperation, equitable distribution of waters, due
consultation over proposed projects, and adequate compensation.
The overview of agreements presented above show the attempts of countries to assert
sovereignty or at least control over the access to the waters of the Nile, largely through
bilateral agreements. The current challenge lies in moving away from bilaterism towards
shared management of all riparian countries. The countries are now in the framework of the
NBI moving towards a common vision of development of the Nile. For downstream states
this represents acknowledgement of the need (if not the right) to upstream water resources
development, which at some point will impact on shares as currently allocated under the
1959 Agreement. For upstream states this also implies the redundancy of insisting on
renegotiations as a starting point if, in many senses, the NBI has taken their position beyond
the negotiating table and directly to the implementation of actions on the ground within a
cooperative framework (Nicol and Shahin 2003).
2.2 Formal actors
On the transboundary level, the Nile Basin Initiative is the most important acting forum. The
council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin or the Nile Council of Ministers
(Nile-COM) is the highest authority of the NBI and is supported by a Nile Technical
Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC) and a Secretariat (Nile-SEC) located in Entebbe
(Mohamoda 2003; Nile Basin Initiative 2005a). The NBI is working on implementing the
Shared Vision Programme (SVP). The main acting institutes within the NBI are listed in
Table 3.
The SVP programme comprises eight projects (Nile Basin Initiative 2005a):
1. The Applied Training Project to build the skills needed in each NBI country to take a
basin-wide or integrated (IWRM) approach to managing the Nile water resources.
2. The Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project to promote cooperation
among the Nile Basin countries in protecting and managing the environment and the
Nile River Basin ecosystem.
3. The Nile Basin Regional Power Trade Project to establish the institutional means to
coordinate the development of regional power markets among the Nile Basin
countries.
4. The Water for Agriculture Project to provide a sound conceptual and practical basis
to increase the availability and efficient use of water for agricultural production.
5. The Water Resources Planning and Management Project to build the skills in each
country to analyse the hydrology, characteristics, and behavior of the Nile Basin
river system.
6. The Confidence-Building and Stakeholder Involvement Project to increase the
involvement of a broad range of stakeholders—from policy and decision makers, to
small business men and women, to fishermen and farmers, to religious and youth
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groups—in and public awareness of the Nile Basin Initiative’s programs and future
investments.
7. The Socio-economic Development and Benefit Sharing Project to build a network of
professionals from economic planning and research institutions, technical experts
from both the public and private sectors, academics, sociologists, and representatives
from civic groups and NGOs from across the basin to explore alternative Nile
development scenarios and benefit-sharing schemes.
8. The SVP Execution and Coordination Project to strengthen the capacity of NBI
institutions to carry out basin-wide programs and to ensure effective oversight and
coordination of the SVP.
Figure 2 Organizational chart shared vision program (Nile-COM 2001b)
Figure 2 provides an overview of the organisational arrangements of this programme and the
respective projects. The projects work both on a regional and national level. A large number
of national governments and NGOs will participate in the different components of the
project. Relevant actors in the program include (a) national governments; (b) local
governments for sub-national jurisdictions within the Basin; (c) local (and community-
based), national and international NGOs active in the Basin; (d) the private sector; (e)
universities and other research institutions; (f) other donors active in the Basin and (Mason
2003; Nile-COM 2001b; Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000).
Table 3 Institutes directly involved in the Nile Basin Initiative; Nile-COM (Nile
Basin Initiative 2005a) and SVP (Nile-COM 2001b)
Country Nile-COM Focal points for the SVP
Burundi Ministry of Land Management,
Environment and Tourism Ministry of Land Management,
Environment and Tourism
Congo Ministry of Environment, Nature Ministry of Environment, Nature
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Conservation, Water and Forests Conservation, Water and Forests
Egypt Minister of Water Resources and
Irrigation Egyptian Environmental Affairs
Agency
Eritrea Eritrea Agency for the Environment
Ethiopia Ministry of Water Resources Environment Protection Authority
Kenya Ministry of Water Resources
Management & Development Ministry of Environment & Natural
Resources
Rwanda Ministry of Lands, Environment,
Forestry, Water and Natural Resources Ministry of Energy, Water and
Natural Resources
Sudan Ministry of Irrigation and Water
Resources Higher Council of Environment and
Natural Resources
Tanzania Ministry of Water and Livestock
Development National Environment Management
Council
Uganda Ministry of Water, Lands and
Environment Ministry of Water, Lands and
Environment
On the country level, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are the most important actors in the Nile
basin, Egypt and Sudan because the Nile waters are their most important source of water and
Ethiopia because around 86% of the Nile waters originate from that country and Ethiopia is
intending to utilise more of the waters in the near future (Mohamoda 2003). The TEA
project, as an example, will involve a wide range of stakeholders, ranging from government
institutes to research institutes to NGO’s. The project will seek involvement and cooperation
with some 110 NGO’s and academic institutions that are listed in the TEA project
implementation plan (Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
2.3 Water policy
The Nile countries recognise that future development of the Basin must be environmentally
sustainable. Identifying the environment and development synergies, and thus the sustainable
development opportunities in the Basin, is now a major priority. Focusing on transboundary
issues provides the riparian countries with a major opportunity to make significant progress
towards their economic and environmental goals in ways that have proved difficult to
achieve independently. The policy guidelines adopted by the NBI's Council of Ministers of
Water Affairs (Nile-COM) in February 1999 define the primary objectives of the NBI. These
objectives are (Economic Commission for Africa 2004; Nile Basin Initiative 2002):
• To develop the water resources of the Nile Basin in a sustainable and equitable way
to ensure prosperity, security, and peace for all its peoples;
• To ensure efficient water management and the optimal use of the resources;
• To ensure cooperation and joint action between the riparian countries, seeking win-
win gains;
• To target poverty eradication and promote economic integration; and
• To ensure that the program results in a move from planning to action.
The NBI has the ultimate goal to provide a peaceful means to reduce conflict in the Nile
Basin. Much time is needed to come to this goal, especially as several of the Nile basin
countries are entangled in internal conflicts and tensions. Larger chance on success will
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however be attained if there would be less reliance on large development schemes and
unconstrained dam-building (Nicol and Shahin 2003; Pottinger 2004).
2.4 Informal actors
Agriculture
Agriculture is an important water user in most of the Nile Basin countries. In the Nile basin
agriculture accounts for at some 85% of all water consumption (Table 4). Next to that, the
irrigation potential of the countries is extensive and countries are interested in exploiting this
potential (FAO 1997; Mohamoda 2003). The loss of water in agriculture is large because
water is not used efficiently. Improvement of irrigation techniques is needed to avoid
wasting water. Experiences in arid countries show that farmers who passed from furrow or
spray irrigation to more efficient drip systems can reduce their water consumption about 30
to 60 per cent, while simultaneously increasing their productivity, and decreasing infiltration
towards ground water. These drip systems may however be too expensive for the poorest
farmers. Cultivation of crops that require a great deal of water like the growing of rice and
sugar cane in Egypt is under discussion. In hot climates, the return on agricultural yield per
unit of water evaporated is poor and thus inefficient. The prevalent method of irrigation in
the region is surface flooding of basins or furrows in which about 50 percent of the water is
lost. Alternatives like sprinkler irrigation can be operated at an efficiency of 70 percent or
more, while drip irrigation can attain efficiency as high as 90 percent, if competently
managed (Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000).
Groundwater is used more and more to irrigate during the dry season. In the most arid zones
groundwaters can be the only supply source for all types of farm activities. However,
groundwater resources are under pressure from increased water demand because of rapid
population growth and surface pollution. Unsustainable quantities of water are being
extracted in many areas and this is seriously diminishing the reservoirs. Moreover, phreatic
waters are more and more polluted. The most common pollutants are nitrates, salt, soluble
organic compounds and, under some conditions, certain faecal pathogens. Land use can also
cause waste of chemicals to the water bodies, thus polluting the water. Proper management
therefore, demands land and water management to be integrated. The basin nations therefore
need to cooperate in their respective agricultural planning, e.g. through distribution of
different crops to areas of the basin where they would be most adapted. Water intensive or
long season crops could for example be grown in the upper basin while crops requiring less
water and growing time could be produced in the lower basin (Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000).
Hydropower development
The Nile Basin has large potential for hydropower development, especially in the Blue Nile.
This would entail the construction of a series of dams, among others in Ethiopia. It is argued
that for instance Egypt's development is constrained more by lack of power than lack of
water. There are consequently trade-offs between water and power, whereby Egypt would
agree to a greater water allocation for Ethiopia and to the construction of Blue Nile
Reservoirs on the condition that a certain percentage of the electricity generated would be
sold to Egypt at a specified price. Reservoirs would also control Blue Nile floods, which
could be particularly beneficial to agricultural development in Sudan. This would enable an
arrangement whereby Ethiopia would trade electricity to Egypt and Sudan in return for
agricultural products (Pottinger 2004; Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000).
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Navigation
The Nile River is a vital waterway for the transportation of people and goods. The river and
its tributaries are only partially and seasonally navigable. River steamers still provide the
only means of transport facilities especially in Sudan south of latitude 15º N during the flood
season, when road transport is usually not possible. Most of the towns in Egypt and Sudan
are situated on or near riverbanks. In Sudan steamer service on the Nile and its tributaries
extends for about 3,800 km. The Blue Nile is navigable only during the high-water season
and then only as far as Ar-Rusayris. Because of the presence of the cataracts north of
Khartoum, the White Nile is navigable in Sudan only in three stretches. The first of these is
from the Egyptian border to the south end of Lake Nasser. The second is the stretch between
the third and the fourth cataract. The third and most important stretch extends from
Khartoum southward to Juba. In Egypt, the Nile is navigable by sailing vessels and shallow-
draft river steamers as far south as Aswan. Canalisation takes place for navigational purposes
and flood protection. Canalisation also takes place in the wetlands in the Sudd to reduce the
evaporation. The Jonglei Canal project as the first project of this kind is however not
progressing since the 1980s because of the civil war. Submerged weeds and water hyacinths
hinder navigation and herbicides are used to control these. The Equatorial Lakes Plateau
contains a number of falls that obstruct the river channels, rendering them unsuitable for
navigation. Navigation risks are accidents (collisions, groundings, wreckage) and associated
pollution risks because of poorly separated traffic, lack of mapping, limited navigational
devices and aids and lack of technology, old and poorly constructed ships and additional
overloading as well as non-qualified boat owners, insufficient maintenance of waterways
(e.g. no regular dredging), and no emergency response system because of a lack of
government control (Mason 2003; Nicol and Shahin 2003; Nile-COM 2001b; Rizzolio
Karyabwite 2000).
Fauna and Flora
Tropical rain forest is found along the Nile-Congo divide, in parts of the Lake Plateau, and in
southwestern Ethiopia. Heat and copious rainfall produce thick forests with a great variety of
tropical trees and plants. Mixed woodland and grassland (savanna), characterised by a sparse
growth of thinly foliaged trees of medium height and a ground covering of grass and
perennial herbs, occurs in large parts of the Lake Plateau, in parts of the Ethiopian Plateau, in
the area that fringes the Blue Nile near Ar-Rusayris, and in the southern Al-Ghazal River
region. On the Sudanese plains, a mixture of thin bush, thorny trees, and open grassland
prevails. This area is swampy during the rainy season, particularly in the Sudd region of the
south-central Sudan. The vegetation there includes papyrus, tall bamboo-like grasses, reed
mace ambatch, or turor, water lettuce, a species of convolvulus, and the South American
water hyacinth. North of latitude 10º N there occurs a belt of thorny savanna or orchard
shrub country characterised by small scattered tree stands, thorn-bush, and, after rain, grass
and herbs. North of this, rainfall decreases and the vegetation thins out, so that the
countryside is dotted with small thorny shrubs, mostly acacias. From Khartoum northward
there is true desert, with scanty and irregular rainfall and no permanent vegetation at all
except for a few stunted shrubs. Grasses and small herbs may be scattered along drainage
lines after rainfall, but these die away in a few weeks. In Egypt the vegetation near the Nile
is almost entirely the result of irrigation and cultivation (Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000).
Many varieties of fish are found in the Nile system. Most of these species are found as far
upstream as Lake Victoria. Many schools of fish that feed in the waters of the Nile in Egypt
during the flood season have been reduced or have disappeared since the construction of the
Aswan High Dam. Most of the species of the Nile fish were migrants, and the dam has
prevented many from migrating to Lake Nasser. The diminution in the number of anchovies
in the eastern Mediterranean has also been attributed to the serious reduction in the outflow
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of waterborne nutrients due to the dam. Lake Nasser, however, has been developed into a
commercial fishery, where the Nile perch and other species thrive (Rizzolio Karyabwite
2000).
The Nile crocodile, found in most parts of the river, has not yet penetrated the lakes of the
upper Nile basin. Other reptiles found in the Nile basin include the soft-shelled turtle, three
species of monitor lizard, and some 30 species of snakes, of which more than half are
venomous. The hippopotamus, once common throughout the Nile system, is now found only
in the As-Sudd region and to the south (Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000).
The construction of reservoirs and change of land use has direct effects in terms of habitat
loss, elimination of flora and fauna and, in many cases, land degradation, but also feedback
effects on the reservoir through alterations in hydrologic function. The resulting loss of
vegetative cover leads to increases in sedimentation, stormflow, and annual water yield;
decreases in water quality; and variable changes in the seasonal timing of water yield
(Mason 2003; World Commission on Dams 2000).
2.5 Institutional change
Several attempts have been made among different countries over the years to cooperate on
the use of the resources of the Nile. The Hydromet project launched in 1967 as well as the
Undugu project in 1983 are regarded as first steps of international cooperation in the basin.
The first attempt to focus on a longer-term development agenda was the Technical
Cooperation Committee for the Promotion of the Development and Environmental
Protection of the Nile Basin (Tecconile), created in 1993. A series of 10 Nile Conferences
was launched in 1993 to provide an informal mechanism for dialogue among the Nile Basin
countries and with the international community. As a result, Tecconile prepared a Nile River
Basin action plan in 1995. Recognising that sustained cooperation on the Nile requires a
permanent institution with a development focus and agreement on core legal principles, the
Nile basin countries established a forum for a process of legal and institutional dialogue in
1997. In 1998, all Nile Basin countries (with Eritrea observing) in partnership with key
external agencies, including the World Bank and bilateral donors joined in a dialogue to
create a regional partnership to facilitate the common pursuit of sustainable development and
management of Nile resources. The countries jointly established an inclusive transitional
mechanism for cooperation that was officially named the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The
establishment of the NBI was an important milestone as for the first time all the ten countries
agreed to cooperate on development of the Nile Basin to promote common benefits, in
recognition that cooperative development holds the greatest prospect of bringing mutual
benefits to the region (Mohamoda 2003; Nile Basin Initiative 2002; Nile Basin Initiative
2005a).
A Shared Vision “to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable
utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources” guides the NBI.
The NBI strategy is to cooperate where cooperation is possible despite differences in other
areas, such as over legal issues. There is a focus on interests, rather than only on legal
positions. At the same time these positions and the tricky legal questions are not ignored, as
they were in past multilateral initiatives. Addressing the challenge of moving towards greater
cooperation and joint development has been central to the NBI. The NBI has both built on
and added to a basic underlying set of enabling relations between states and the willingness
of key basin states to move from “unilateralism” to “multilateralism” in resource
development. The Initiative provides a unique forum for the countries of the Nile to move
forward a cooperative process to realise tangible benefits in the Basin and build a solid
foundation of trust and confidence. Some of the early external facilitation of Nile Basin
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cooperation focused on issues including the need to “level the playing field” through
building national capacity and identifying national priorities, as well as correcting what it
saw as “information asymmetry.” A second focus was to move from dialog to actions, within
which there was a need to develop dialogue on different tracks (for instance, information,
capacity, technology) as well as to start with the achievable and avoid getting bogged down
in formulae. This also sought to recognise that progress on complex water systems may be
slow, but dialog needs to be sustained and trust needs to be established. Finally there was the
aim to seek opportunities for mutually beneficial programs or projects. This latter concept
has come to dominate much of the thinking on the NBI, particularly in terms of win–wins in
benefit sharing. The premise of much of the NBI cooperative framework is that win–wins are
achievable, and demonstrably so, through integrated project development. This involves the
creation of cooperative frameworks that enable links between cooperation and development
to be made, not just in terms of joint funding, management, and the development of projects
– the easy part of cooperation – but in terms of joint benefit sharing from such projects
(Mason 2003; Nicol and Shahin 2003; Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
In this shift from cooperation to development, there needs to be more than just commitment
to national development; it has to address the question of economic and social equity and the
inter- and intra-national levels. Even developments generated within the basin – perhaps
trade in power or better environmental management – do not necessarily enable poverty
reduction. The underlying causes of environmental threats are often related to institutional,
governance, awareness and information issues as well as sectoral and macroeconomic
policies. Yet poverty reduction is the major factor to achieve progress. Environmental
impacts of macro and sectoral policies on the Nile Basin’s land and water resources,
including transboundary impacts linked to trade, transport and migration are poorly
understood. Therefore, in the coming years cooperation needs to be grounded in wider
development concepts (Nicol and Shahin 2003; Nile-COM 2001b).
It may be easier to reach cooperation on development options between states than it is to get
local-level agreement within states as lack of awareness and understanding of the
transboundary environmental consequences of the decisions being taken over land and water
resource management in all of the riparian countries is a major barrier to strengthening
environmental management. As a general rule this is likely to apply to a whole range of
major infrastructure projects on the river identified under the NBI. Success of the NBI will,
in large part, rest on being able to meet this challenge. NBI development projects need to be
mainstreamed within regional, national, and local development processes, and not simply
exist in parallel, labelled as “water resource-“ or “river basin-“ focused (Nicol and Shahin
2003; Nile-COM 2001b).
The differences between the countries can limit cooperation. Sudan for instance does not
have a pressing water shortage, rather a shortage of the economic and political capacity to
use the available resources. Sudan will cooperate internationally to gain access to
international finances for building dams, managing siltation problems and increasing
irrigation efficiency. Due to the limited economic and political capacity, often projects are
planned but not implemented. The countries have to find a consensus over different water
development options, e.g. the weight given to hydroelectric power versus irrigation, the
priority given to pond-sized, small-scale or large-scale irrigation projects. Ethiopia for
instance has two options for developing its water resources: to cooperate internationally in
order to gain access to finances, or to strike bilateral funding agreements with countries
outside of the basin and go ahead unilaterally. The conditions made by international
development banks can prevent upstream development (Mason 2003).
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2.6 Financial arrangements
The Nile Basin Trust Fund (NBTF) has been established to finance the projects under the
Shared Vission Program. The World Bank initially administers the trust fund and a NBTF
Committee will be established to provide fiduciary oversight for the management of the
funds. This committee will include the donors contributing to the NBTF, Nile-COM
members and the World Bank. In due course, the NBTF Committee with a view to
transferring management to a permanent NBI institution when appropriate will review this
arrangement. The NBI serves as the funding conduit for financial institutions interested in
the region. Several donors, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, the US, the African Development Bank, FAO,
Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNDP and the World Bank, with strong interest from
France and the European Union, have provided support. The Nile riparian countries have
made a conscious decision to self-finance the recurrent running costs of the regional
Secretariat. The riparian governments are contributing an annual amount to the operations
and the budget of the Secretariat. This decision has been taken to assure true ownership and
control of the process. Additional cost recovery mechanisms are currently being explored
(Anonymous 2002; Nile-COM 2001b; Nile Basin Initiative 2002; Pottinger 2004).
The Nile basin countries in general have a very low financial base. Several options for
financing are therefore developed such as increased private sector investments, joint
ventures, self-financing mechanisms and public-private cooperation. The Egyptian
government for instance is building irrigation infrastructure while private investments are
taking care of drainage, leveling, and the preparing of the ground. Additional studies are
conducted to identify and demonstrate effective cost recovery mechanisms. It requires
further in depth socio-economic studies to identify the approach to be used under the
different conditions (Mason 2003; MWRI 2002; Nile-COM 2001a; Nile-COM 2001b;
Rizzolio Karyabwite 2000; UNECA 2000).
2.7 Power balance
The power of upstream countries to deprive the downstream country of water was levelled
out by two factors in the case of the Nile. One is that the upriver countries were politically
too unstable to realise their power potential. Second is that Egypt, due to its military,
political and economic supremacy, was able to enforce its will without having to take into
consideration the interests of the other states. Since the early 1990s, however, the upstream
riparian states have been articulating their growing need for water due to population growth
and their desire for economic development. At the same time, their ability to make use of
their hydrological advantage has been increasing. The power asymmetry on the political,
economic and military level is shifting to the benefit of the upriver riparians. Simultaneously,
hydrological power asymmetries, which are determined principally by topography and
geography, are growing. The more the power asymmetries on both levels balance each other,
the less likely unilateral acts will be and the more likely it is that there will be a cooperative
regulation of the conflict (Stroh 2003).
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3 Information management
The activities in the Nile Basin have the potential to reach and harm downstream water
users. Exchange of information and knowledge sharing among and between key resource
users, research institutions and other stakeholders throughout the Basin regarding best
practices and lessons from experiences is very limited. Transboundary cooperation will be
increasingly important to maintain appropriate water quality for drinking water, irrigation,
and industry and to support human health and livelihoods and ecosystem functions in the
Nile Basin. This will increase the understanding of the current state of water quality and
priority needs for transboundary cooperation between the Nile countries and will contribute
to building greater capacity for water quality monitoring and management. Data and
information related to the transboundary aspects of these issues are scarce and awareness of
downstream impacts is generally lacking. Only limited work has been done to identify
environmental hot spots or to carry out systematic water quality monitoring at
environmentally-sensitive sites of transboundary and regional significance. Moreover, there
is insufficient understanding of the river basin dynamics to assess the downstream
environmental impacts of future river system interventions or changes in watershed
management regimes. Next to that, relatively few local stakeholders have access to adequate
means of communications. The issue of information and data use is central in assessing and
responding to the development needs of basin states as well as developing effective and
transparent institutions and processes of cooperation. Part of the challenge is knowing how
and where to develop the basin resources in order to maximise benefits for states through
more efficient as well as equitable use of the resource. Much of the data management
environment to date has focused on river flows, addressing the problems of water
management mentioned earlier (Nicol and Shahin 2003; Nile-COM 2001b; Nile Basin
Initiative 2002).
3.1 Specification of information goals, needs & strategy
Several activities are undertaken over the years from the 1960s to come to basin wide data
sharing. Exceptional rainfall in the early 1960s causing rising levels of Lake Victoria was the
main reason for starting the Hydromet project, which was established in 1967 between
Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its objectives included collection and analysis
of data for the Lakes Victoria, Kyoga, and Albert catchments and a study of the water
balance of the Nile. However, regional political difficulties in the 1970s forced the project’s
premature closure following the withdrawal of Kenya and Tanzania. Hydromet officially
ended in 1992. More recently, significant data acquisition models have been developed by,
amongst others, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) under
the auspices of projects including “Operation Water Resources Management and Information
Systems for the Nile Basin Countries,” and “Information Systems for Water Resources
Planning and Monitoring in the Lake Victoria region.” These projects have included
significant capacity building elements in Upper Nile countries, related closely to monitoring
improved sustainable water resources development (Nicol and Shahin 2003).
In the early 1990s, Tecconile came into being and included elements concerned with
strengthening data processing and GIS/Image Analysis Systems and the implementation of
basin-wide networking on data sharing. Tecconile covered nine basin states, with Ethiopia
and Kenya acting as observers. Its longerterm objective was to help develop and conserve
the Nile waters in an integrated and sustainable manner and to determine the “equitable
entitlement” of each riparian state to use of the Nile waters. In the short term the idea was to
develop national master plans and to integrate these plans into a wider Nile Basin plan. The
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original institutional model included the establishment of a Council of Ministers (meeting
once a year) and a Technical Committee. While in its own terms the project did not develop
to completion, it provided the seed for more concerted efforts at achieving substantial
socioeconomic and political cooperation on the Nile (Nicol and Shahin 2003).
The Transboundary Environment Action Project (TEA) that was set up in 2002 will
encourage more effective basin-wide stakeholder cooperation on transboundary
environmental issues by supporting, among others, water quality monitoring. Water Quality
Monitoring will initiate a basin-wide dialogue on water quality and improve understanding
of transboundary water quality issues, improve capacities for monitoring and management of
water quality and initiate exchange and dissemination of information on key parameters.
Exchange of experiences on regulatory issues and on water quality information between
countries will facilitate improved decision making by governments and other resource users.
Basin-wide dialogue among relevant stakeholders will help develop a common vision and
goal for water quality for the Nile Basin. Improved regional exchanges and capacities will
encourage streamlining of water quality monitoring. Information exchanges and processing
issues will be designed and implemented in close collaboration with the DSS – River Basin
Model (Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
The Nile countries differ noticeably in the degree to which they consider water quality
management an immediate priority. Furthermore, technical and resource capacities to
address water quality issues vary considerably. The TEA project component will therefore
emphasise awareness raising on benefits/costs of cooperation with regards to transboundary
water quality management on an institutional level. Capacity development efforts will be
focused on the Nile countries with the greatest needs in terms of formulating and enforcing
regulations, analysing water quality and addressing immediate problems. Support of water
quality monitoring efforts will mainly be geared towards aiding low cost field methods to
address transboundary priority actions with an emphasis on synergy to project activities in
the Community Level Land, Forests and Water Conservation component such as e.g. erosion
control, improved land management and non-point source pollution control. As the emphasis
of this component is to launch a basin-wide dialogue supplemented by exchanges and
training, the project will not support significant laboratory development or equipment
purchases. Additional resources are still required to upgrade national capacities in a number
of the Nile countries (including laboratories, equipment, identification of sampling points,
etc.), which is largely outside the scope of the present regional effort. An assessment of the
experiences from this regional engagement on water quality will provide the basis for
recommending future NBI investment and grant funded activities and the development of
water quality action plans for the Nile Basin (Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
Building on the identification of root causes and priority action steps initiated in the Nile
Transboundary Environmental Analysis, this project will begin by assessing existing water
quality information on a national and regional scale and identifying major information gaps
and needs. A review and summary of ongoing national water quality monitoring efforts,
existing information from regular sampling points, including review of national database
structures and capacity for monitoring source and non-point source pollution will be
compiled into a Nile Water Quality Report. This report will identify data gaps and needs,
useful indicators, and priority sites, and set priorities. On this basis, a work plan will be
developed. A regional Working Group will be formed mandated with enforcing water quality
regulations and/or the head of the main laboratory responsible for monitoring surface water
quality (Nile-COM 2001b; Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
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3.2 Information production
The history of collecting data on the Nile is thousands of years old, and testament to this is
the proliferation of Nilometers along the river, the best-preserved being the Nilometer on
Roda Island, Cairo. However, apart from the sharing of data between British experts under
condominal and colonial control in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, it was not
until the 1960s that concerted data sharing was attempted. The Hydromet project (initially
driven by the rising levels of Lake Victoria caused by exceptional rainfall in the early 1960s)
was established in 1967 between Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Supported by
the UNDP and the World Meteorological Program, its objectives included collection and
analysis of data for the Lakes Victoria, Kyoga, and Albert catchments and a study of the
water balance of the Nile. However, regional political difficulties in the 1970s forced the
project’s premature closure following the withdrawal of Kenya and Tanzania. It ended
officially in 1992. More recently, significant data acquisition models have been developed
by, amongst others, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
under the auspices of projects including “Operation Water Resources Management and
Information Systems for the Nile Basin Countries,” and “Information Systems for Water
Resources Planning and Monitoring in the Lake Victoria region.” These projects have
included significant capacity building elements in Upper Nile countries, related closely to
monitoring improved sustainable water resources development. In the early 1990s, Tecconile
came into being, supported by CIDA, and included elements concerned with strengthening
data processing and GIS/Image Analysis Systems and the implementation of basin-wide
networking on data sharing (Nicol and Shahin 2003).
One of the pre-requisites of successful water management is to build effective institutions
and develop appropriate and enforceable regulations. For this purpose, a series of activities
has been defined within the Nile Basin Initiative (Nile-COM 2001b; Nile Basin Initiative
2002):
• Regional cooperation will be enhanced through strengthening the dialogue among
relevant institutions across the basin and exchange and evaluation of existing water
quality data and information in a transboundary context.
• Establishment of regional workshops and training events that draw on lessons learned
across the basin and worldwide. Regional and national training workshops should be
conducted to provide training for water quality measurement in selected laboratories
in the basin that have existing capacity and have experience in training.
• Harmonisation will also be sought through the formulation and use of uniform
analytical methods and standardised laboratory protocols for measuring key water
quality parameters.
• Common analytical methods for water quality monitoring measurements and quality
assurance will be developed based on realistic assessment of analytical capacity in
each country and existing standard methods used in the basin countries.
• A manual of standard, common analytical methods and procedures for water quality
monitoring will be developed.
• A feasible quality assurance program will be developed using existing well equipped
facilities in some basin countries as reference point.
• Compatible data reporting and database formats for exchange of water quality
information will be developed.
• Selection of sites, parameters and modalities for exchange and update of information
based on the gaps and needs analysis. Adapt existing bio-indicator methods (mostly
established for and used in temperate climates) to local conditions in the basin and
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establish the feasibility of using biodiversity-indices for qualitative water quality
assessment in the Nile region. Strategic sampling points may focus on (i) the
outlet/inflow of major Nile Basin lakes, marshes and other features, (ii) selected
biodiversity hot spots, e.g., significant wetlands, migratory birds. route and cross-
border protected areas (to be coordinated with components 2 and 4), and (iii) points
known to experience major change in quality or quantity
• Training material (manual, overheads, easy to read summary sheets for field
application) for selected water quality monitoring methods including sampling
methods and data recording, and methods for standard preparation and measurement
will be developed.
Leading laboratories in the region that are currently applying for ISO certification, for
example in Uganda and Egypt, should be able to serve as training sites and as future
reference laboratories. Regional exchange of information will use existing national and
additional IT infrastructure and guidance. National databases exist in some form in most
countries and are housed in or connected to the agencies responsible for water quality and
enforcement in each country. The information needs to be adjusted to a format that is
transferable between countries (including a system to locate/communicate sample point
location) (Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
Several national monitoring programs are running. Much effort is found in Egypt where like
for instance the National Water Research Center (NWRC) in Egypt, that monitors the delta
and Fayoum regions on a monthly basis. Under the program samples are analysed for
physical, biological, microbiological, macro and micro ions (El-Sayed 2001). The Ministry
of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) launched a NAtional Water Quality and
Availability Monitoring (NAWQAM) program in 1997 for improving the water quality in
the Nile River to reduce the health risks from water-borne diseases. The Water Availability
Component of the NAWQAM project is to develop improved national water resources
management policies. These policies are obtained through improved water quantity and
quality data, better analysis of supply and demand variables, and increased consultation
among water users and distributors. Demand models are developed to provide the tool for
prediction future water demands base on historical use patterns. These predictions are
updated as new data become available. A framework that uses hydrologic, municipal,
industrial, agricultural, demographic, social, meteorological and economic as well as
environmental data and information has been developed to predict future water demands for
various uses (MWRI 2002).
3.3 Communication
Exchange of information and dialogue between Nile Basin countries will be stimulated
within the Nile Basin Initiative. This includes workshops, study tours and training on for
instance regulatory, institutional and administrative issues relevant to water quality
management best practices in environmental legislation, sector specific examples of effluent
standards, cost recovery mechanisms for water quality monitoring and incentive mechanisms
for pollution prevention (Nile-COM 2001b; Nile Basin Initiative 2002; Rizzolio Karyabwite
2000). The policy guidelines of the Nile-COM speak to the need for good communication.
Communication can help create an enabling environment of confidence and ensure that those
most affected by investments and action on the ground are fully involved. The policy
priorities adopted by Nile-COM are mirrored in the objectives of the Long-term
Communication (LTC) Project, as follows:
 To develop confidence in regional cooperation under the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)
 To ensure full stakeholder involvement in the NBI and its projects.
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The LTC Project intends to achieve these objectives through a comprehensive
ensive participation by a wide range of stakeholders is an explicit
rient loads
ct assessments for planned
.4 Information utilisation
ict in the Nile Basin is not over water pollution. Any
communication program along two program tracks—public information and development
communication. The public information track is aimed mainly at strengthening confidence in
regional cooperation, while the development communication track is concerned primarily
with stakeholder involvement. The public information track will raise awareness and
understanding of the NBI and foster support for regional cooperation and economic
integration. The development communication track will lay the foundation for the use of
participatory communication to achieve full stakeholder involvement in NBI projects
(Anonymous 2001).
As an example, ext
emphasis of the Transboundary Environmental Analysis. Significant project components aim
to broaden and deepen stakeholder involvement in environmental management. Basin-wide
Working Groups will coordinate each of the project components that include a range of
stakeholder representatives. Local stakeholders, especially communities and smaller
NGOs/CBOs, are explicitly targeted beneficiaries for some of the components. A wide range
of stakeholders is also expected to be involved in and benefit from the information and
knowledge management component as well as the environmental education and awareness
program. Representatives of major stakeholder groups will also have opportunities to
participate in monitoring and evaluating the project. (Nile Basin Initiative 2005a)
Information exchange is expected to include the assessment of sediment and nut
and the protection of wetlands and be closely related to other project activities. Countries
that are already engaged in intensive monitoring efforts are likely to provide more detailed
information and contribute their own experiences (Nile Basin Initiative 2002). This is
however not easily established in all countries (Mason 2003).
Lack of capacity to perform adequate environmental impa
investments and installations, although variable between the countries, is generally
widespread throughout the Basin. This is either due to missing or outdated regulations or to
insufficient enforcement of existing ones. While some countries have adopted environmental
impact assessment guidelines relatively recently, the institutional capacity to enforce and
monitor the process has been identified as generally poor. As a result, the capacity to assess
the transboundary environmental impacts of planned basin-wide investment programs is
currently insufficient to support a transition toward sustainable development (Nile-COM
2001b).
3
The international water use confl
investments to prevent water pollution could ease the problem on the national level,
especially around urban centers. Sediment loads, a water quality factor affecting the water
quantity stored in reservoirs, is a major international problem. Since about 90% of the Main
Nile sediments stem from the Atbara and Blue Nile basins (covering about 16% of the Nile),
watershed management seeking to ease the international impacts of erosion and
sedimentation should focus on this area of the Nile Basin (Mason 2003). Much of the focus
in transboundary monitoring however is directed towards water quality monitoring as
described above. One important effort in this respect is the Transboundary Environmental
Analysis (TEA) project. A review of the experiences during this project will be performed to
consolidate the experiences and formulate recommendations for further actions. This
evaluation will result in recommended additional actions and their timing either on the
national, sub-regional or regional scale based on performance and experiences from the
project activities. Recommendations from this evaluation may form part of an initial action
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agenda for water quality management in the Nile Basin. Based on the experiences in this
basin-wide effort additional resources on the appropriate level of intervention (national, sub-
regional, or basin-wide) may be leveraged (Nile Basin Initiative 2002).
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4 Evaluation ‘Adaptiveness’
The major part of the transboundary cooperation in the Nile River Basin is currently focused
around the Nile Basin Initiative. The NBI is also the most advanced cooperation framework.
Bi- and multilateral cooperation seems to be of secondary importance while the NBI is
developing. In evaluating the adaptiveness of the cooperation in the basin in this chapter, we
will therefore draw from the NBI.
4.1 Formal actors and informal networks
In many of the countries, ministries responsible for water and the environment also include
or are part of land management or agriculture, and natural resources management. The main
formal players in water management, namely agriculture and hydropower, are consequently
mostly within the same ministry. In the Eastern Nile states, agriculture is in a separate
ministry. Next to this, active involvement is sought of relevant actors in the NBI. Although
involvement of actors is well established at the national level, the regional and local levels
seem to be less involved in the process, despite the actions as defined under the NBI. The
NBI tries to focus on concrete issues, preferably working round legal agreements. The NBI
is successful in this approach but is also limited. The cross-sectoral cooperation is
consequently in a developing stage.
The NBI explicitly includes involvement of local communities and local governments. But
as stated, the lower level governments seem to be less involved in the process, partly because
the NBI is rather a top-down process that is not well designed for stakeholder involvement
(Pottinger 2004). This also fits the predominantly authoritarian government style in the
region. The cooperation between administration levels is consequently underdeveloped while
it is uncertain if the NBI will improve this situation.
The NBI seek joint decision-making between the riparian countries. Historical disputes make
this a difficult element to deal with, but the NBI provides a firm basis for cooperation in
decision-making. Cooperation across administrative boundaries is therefore still
underdeveloped.
The NBI includes broad access to information and participation in decision-making,
including NGO’s. A large number of NGO’s that must be involved and can possibly
cooperate in the process is identified. Broad stakeholder participation is therefore defined in
the initiative and several stakeholder meetings were established.
There is fundamental critique on the NBI, like in a paper by Ugandan academics, submitted
to the Third World Water Forum in Japan, that states, “NBI is no doubt a top-down
arrangement that is a partnership between the [East African] governments, donor institutions
and the governments of the West… NBI may be said to be a conduit for huge infrastructure
developments rather than a new strategy in development in the Nile Basin.” The paper
further states that “NGOs [are] being used for ‘window dressing’ only [in the NBI] … What
is important is the quality of citizen involvement in decision-making, but given the nature
and content of both NEPAD and NBI, it is clear current development strategies in Africa in
general and the Nile Basin in particular are unaccommodative to genuine citizen
participation.” The authors recommend a rethinking of citizen participation on the NBI and
NEPAD “so that the citizens for whom development is said to be ‘done’ are brought to the
center rather that being pushed to the periphery of the development process.” (Pottinger
2004).
Nevertheless, the Nile Basin Initiative is defined in a way that supports good cooperation and
establishes networks between formal and informal actors. The sheer establishment of the
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NBI can be considered an enormous step towards an adaptive water management regime. It
also contains the necessary elements to establish good participation between the actors.
However vast problems still have to be faced and the cultural and socio-economic setting in
the Nile Basin countries is not fully developed to establish the initiative to its full extent. It is
concluded that the NBI supports participation in theory but does not function yet to its full
extent in practice.
4.2 Legal framework
The existing legal agreements are largely focusing on water quantity and water division
issues and do not see water management as an integrated resources management issue. The
1959 Nile Water Agreement signed between Egypt and Sudan for instance, dealing with the
allocation of water between the two countries is still the major legislative fundament of
negotiations between the countries. The NBI on the other hand takes on the position that it
will work around the existing legal agreements. This clearly shows that the legal framework
in place in the Nile Basin is by far not ready to be dealt with in an adaptive way.
4.3 Policy development and implementation
The NBI aims at a sustainable water management situation. Projections are made of
developments in the demographic, economic and hydrologic situation in the future to be able
to account for future challenges and consequently have a longer term horizon. This is
however also coupled to larger scale measures, like dams to utilise the hydroelectric power
and irrigation potentials of the river. These are measures that limit the future possibilities and
are not easily reversed. However also smaller scale experiments are taken, like for instance
application of improved, water-efficient irrigation methods. It is not yet clear how the
measures are implemented into policies and plans, apart from several engineering plans. The
policy development and implementation is consequently not ready for an adaptive approach.
4.4 Information management
A working group is established to develop the water quality and quantity monitoring of the
river basin. This working group will conduct a broad inventory of available monitoring and
data, and information gaps. This monitoring focuses on physico-chemical elements and does
not include biological or socio-economic elements. The focus is consequently very much on
the traditional water quality monitoring efforts and is not focused on innovation. This is
partly due to the less developed monitoring capacities in terms of staff and equipment, which
makes even basic data collection hard to implement. Looking at the DPSIR indicator
framework, we find that most of the monitoring effort goes to information on the Status of
the water. Little attention goes to Impacts, while Driving forces, pressures and responses are
not addressed.
The NBI takes on the position that the available information must be widely disseminated.
The availability of data on for instance the internet is momentarily scarce. Application of the
available data is also not widespread in for instance reports. As the NBI is still developing,
again, the lack of information dissemination and utilisation can be attributed to the lack of a
basin wide monitoring system as it is still under development.
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4.5 Financial arrangements
The financial arrangements for the NBI are generally well established, with the NBTF as an
important tool. Due to the financially poor conditions of the riparian countries, the
programme heavily relies on donors. In the long run this is not a sustainable system. The
program however includes a range of activities aiming at improving the financial situation by
involving private investments, self-financing, and by for instance transferring the
management of infrastructure to private parties.
Donors concluding, heavily influence decision-making. This situation is beneficial in a sense
that the tendency is towards more adaptive regimes. However, the administrations
themselves are not the major driving force behind this change, there is a serious risk that the
results from the NBI only partly remain after donors withdraw.
4.6 Conclusion on adaptiveness of the Nile River Basin water management
regime
Summarising, transboundary water management is a main concern for the political system at
the level of the governments (geopolitics, foreign affairs) although the Egyptian water
authorities for a long time tried to establish a basin-wide water flow regime. Governmental
stakeholders (i.e. ministries, governmental bodies) are much involved in international
projects (i.e. Nile Basin Initiative sub-projects). Negotiations regarding transboundary RBM
are conducted between delegations mainly representing the water sector, the foreign affairs
ministry and legal experts. Other ministries can bring in their interest mainly (but still to a
limited extent) in the process of national policy making. In Egypt an Ethiopia, international
RBM is considered a highly salient issue and the heads of states take a strong personal
interest. Links between actors and policies from water management and other sectors like
housing, land use planning and agriculture exist on the top levels (cabinet) and have been
established more recently on lower levels in policy preparation groups in charge of designing
‘national water policies’. Often the links between the sectors are more dependent on the
persons in charge than their positions within the institutions. At least in Egypt and Ethiopia
there are attempts to integrate policies of different sectors referring to river basins as the
appropriate unit. Meanwhile the power balance is shifting towards a less prominent role for
Egypt, which can improve the cooperation as it can build on equality. The public at large is
not at all involved in transboundary RBM management other than through the laborious Nile
Basin Discourse.
Furthermore, links between the scientific community and policy makers are not well
established. In Ethiopia for instance, cooperation exist on a personal rather than an
institutional basis. The water ministry is currently in the process of establishing a National
Water Research Center. In Egypt, the Water Ministry has its own water research center
giving it extensive capacity to carry out its own research. Contacts with other academic
research institutions are much less frequent and have been described as 'specific consultancy
services'. For the ministry, academics other than engineers hardly ever penetrate the water
sector that forms a rather tight community. Looking at the issue of uncertainty, there is one
sub project of the Nile Basin Initiative dealing with Water Resources Planning and Decision
Support Systems and uncertainties are taken into consideration. There is nevertheless little
work done on uncertainty, climate change, and extreme events in planning documents in the
various countries.
From the above it becomes clear that the Nile River Basin regime cannot be characterised as
adaptive. Despite the NBI, it is also not expected to become very much adaptive in the near
future. The NBI provides an essential step towards a more adaptive regime and contains
24

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much of the necessary elements that could be defined as adaptive from the transboundary
management point of view. Implementation of the NBI is ongoing and a definite conclusion
on the adaptiveness of the new situation after implementation is consequently not possible.
Judging from the ongoing activities it is concluded that the cooperation between the formal
and informal actors in the basin is in progress and could yield much progress underway. The
information management seems to be approached in a rather traditional way that will still
leave much development into a more interdisciplinary and communicatory approach needed.
Also exchange of information is not developing rapidly. The policy development is
progressing and contains many impulses towards a more flexible and intersectoral approach.
However, not much achievements in implementing these approaches is expected, due to the
unbalanced political and socio-economic situation in most of the Nile Basin countries and
the huge gap between the existing and desired context. Furthering this, it is not expected that
the legal framework will be altered soon. As long as the political setting is not ready for a
real transition there will be little determination to change the legal settings.
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5 List of references
Anonymous, 2001. Confidence-building and stakeholder involvement (communication). Nile
Basin Initiative Shared Vision Program, Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the
Nile Basin States. http://www.nilebasin.org/documents.htm.
Anonymous, 2002. The Nile Basin Initiative Act.
http://www.nilebasin.org/Documents/NBI%20Act%202002.pdf.
Anonymous, 5-8-2005a. A fact file about the Nile River. Retrieved 5-8-2005a
http://www.mbarron.net/Nile/fctfl_nf.html
Anonymous, 21-7-2005b. Major agreements on Nile River waters. Retrieved 21-7-2005b
http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/mckinney/ce397/Topics/Nile/Nile.htm
Collins, R.O., 2003. The inscrutable Nile at the beginning of the new millennium.
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/Inscrutable%20Nile1.pdf.
da Silva, J.E., F.N. Correia, and M.C. da Silva, 1998. Transboundary issues in water
resources. Pages 105-141 in: Correia, F.N. (ed.) Selected issues in water resources
management in Europe. Volume 2. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Economic Commission for Africa, 2004. Assessing Regional Integration in Africa. ECA
Policy Research Report, Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
http://www.uneca.org/aria/.
El-Sayed, A., 2001. Effect of the River Nile flow regime on the drainage water quality of the
Nile Delta. Pages 251-258 in: Timmerman, J.G., W.P. Cofino, R. Enderlein, W.
Jülich, P.L. Literathy, J.M. Martin, Ph. Ross, N. Thyssen, R.K. Turner, and R.C. Ward
(eds.). Proceedings of the international workshop on information for sustainable water
management; Monitoring Tailor-Made - III, 25 - 28 September 2001, Nunspeet, The
Netherlands. RIZA / IWAC, Lelystad, The Netherlands. http://www.mtm-
conference.nl.
El-Sebae, A.H., 1989. Fate and undesirable effects of pesticides in Egypt. Pages 359-372 in:
Bourdeau, P. and others (eds.) Ecotoxicology and Climate. John Wiley & Sons Ltd,
FAO, 1997. Irrigation potential in Africa: A basin approach. Land and Water bulletin No. 4.
FAO Land and Water Development Division, ISBN 92-5-103966-6.
http://www.fao.org.
FAO, 25-7-2005. Aquastat. Retrieved 25-7-2005
http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/aglw/aquastat/main/index.stm
Mason, S.A., 2003. From conflict to cooperation in the Nile basin. Thesis, Center for
Security Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland., ISBN:
3-905641-95-X
Mason, S.A., 2005. Are we scorpions? The role of upstream–downstream dialogue in
fostering cooperation in the Nile Basin. Mountain Research and Development 25(2):
115-120.
Mohamoda, D.Y., 2003. Nile Basin cooperation. A review of the literature. Current African
Issues, No. 26. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Oslo, Norway. 39 pp.
MWRI, 2002. Adopted measures to face major challenges in the Egyptian Water sector.
Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Egypt.
http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/download/report_Egypt.pdf.
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Nicol, A. and M. Shahin, 2003. The Nile: Moving beyond cooperation. Technical documents
in hydrology; PC-CP series; 16, SC.2003/WS/61. UNESCO-IHP.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001333/133301e.pdf.
Nile-COM, 2001a. Efficient water use for agricultural production.
http://www.nilebasin.org/Documents/svp_agric.pdf.
Nile-COM, 2001b. Nile transboundary environmental action draft. GEF project brief.
http://www.nilebasin.org/Documents/svp_nile_gef_project_brief.pdf.
Nile Basin Initiative, 2002. Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project. Project
Implementation Plan. Working Document.
Nile Basin Initiative, 25-7-2005a. Nile Basin Initiative. Retrieved 25-7-2005a
http://www.nilebasin.org
Nile Basin Initiative, 26-7-2005b. The Nile River. Retrieved 26-7-2005b
http://www.nilebasin.org/_borders/theNileRiver.htm
Pottinger, L., 2004. Can the Nile states dam their way to cooperation? http://www.irn.org.
Rizzolio Karyabwite, D., 2000. Water sharing in the Nile River valley.
UNEP/DEWA/GRID, Geneva, Switzerland.
Stroh, K., 2003. Water: An Advocate for Reason Win-win Solutions for the Nile River
Basin. Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft 4: 95-109.
http://www.fes.de/ipg/ONLINE4_2003/ARTSTROH.PDF.
UNECA, 2000. Transboundary river/lake basin water development in Africa: prospects,
problems, and achievements. ECA/RCID/052/00. United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Publications/RCID/Transboundary_v2.PDF.
World Commission on Dams, 2000. Dams and development; a new framework. The report
of the World Commission on dams. Earthscan Publications Ltd, London and Sterling,
VA. http://www.dams.org/report/.
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Retrieved 25-7-2005 http://earthtrends.wri.org
27

6 Annex I: Basic statistics on Nile basin countries (FAO 2005)
Country
Total area
(km2)
(2000)
Total
population
in 2000
(*1000
inh)
Rural
population
in 2000
(%)
Urban
population
in 2000
(%)
Average
precipitation
61-90
(km3/year)
Total
renewable
water
resources
(actual)
(km3/year)
Agricultural
water use
in 2000
(km3/year)
Agricultural
water use
(%)
Domestic
water use
in 2000
(km3/year)
Domestic
water
use (%)
Industrial
water use
in 2000
(km3/year)
Industrial
water use
(%)
T
otal water
use in
2000
(km3/year)
Burundi 27.830
6.356
91
9
33,9
3,6
0,19
82
0,04
17
0
1
0,23
Dem.
Republic
of Congo
2.344.860
50.948
70
30
3618,12
1283
0,11
31
0,19
52
0,06
16
0,36
Egypt 1.001.450
67.884
55
45
51,37
58,3
53,85
78
5,23
8
9,57
14
68,65
Eritrea 117.600
3.659
81
19
45,15
6,3
0,29
95
0,01
4
0
1
0,3
Ethiopia 1.104.300
62.908
82
18
936
110
2,47
93
0,03
1
0,15
6
2,65
Kenya 580.370
30.669
67
33
401,91
30,2
1,01
64
0,47
30
0,1
6
1,58
Rwanda 26.340
7.609
94
6
31,93
5,2
0,03
39
0,04
48
0,01
14
0,08
Sudan 2.505.810
31.095
64
36
1043,67
64,5
36,07
97
0,99
3
0,26
1
37,31
Tanzania 945.090
35.119
67
33
1012,19
91
1,85
93
0,12
6
0,03
1
2
Uganda 241.040
23.300
86
14
284,5
66
0,12
39
0,13
45
0,05
15
0,3
Total 8.894.690
319.547
70
30
1718,1
95,99
85
7,25
6
10,23
9
113,46

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