Revisiting The Nile River Basin by Global Water Alliance (GWA)

The complex and varied uses of water are exemplified within the Nile River Basin, a transboundary river system with a long history of tension, conflict, but also cooperation. The Nile River travels through eleven riparian nations in northeastern Africa. Past Agreements in 1929 & 1959 will be discussed, as well as the more recent Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), an intergovernmental partnership of ten of the eleven governments in the Nile Basin (Eritrea is an observer), and the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) which outlines the principles, rights, and obligations for cooperative management and development of the basin’s water resources.

The future will be tied to cooperative efforts to manage and allocate the water resources in this river basin. While the NBI and CFA have made significant strides in promoting cooperation within the region and engaging parties for social and climate resilience, tensions are still high and increasing of late.

What are some of the best practices for developing collaborative and inclusive initiatives for water cooperation and peace building? Are there any win-win scenarios? While the situation gets much attention in the political circles, water professionals from several disciplines may be able to influence that attention with some cool-headed and in-depth analyses of the technical sides of the problem and suggest pathways for solutions