1. Environmental Issues and the Hydro-
politics of the Eastern Nile Basin:
Conflict and Cooperation in a
Transboundary Watercourse
By:
Zerihun Abebe Yigzaw
June 2011
Dilla University

2. Environment and Politics
 Environment: What it Consists?
 “… the natural resources and ecosystems
upon which humanity is dependent on for
survival….” (Mason 2004).

Land
 Water
 Biodiversity

air

3. Envt and …
 politics of environment

environmental issues are at the center of the 21st
Century Global/International politics. These includes
• climate change
• environmentally induced conflicts over scarce
resources
• poverty in the third world as a result of
environmental degradation and poor policy issues
and matters

4. Envt and…
 environmental issues and problems never knows
boundary-we can not chose our neighbors
 environmental issues in transboundary rivers are
aspects of politics, b/c these issues
• involves sovereign states
• involves power
• requires political commitment and decision making
 transboundary environmental issues and problems
also entail both cooperation and conflict
 spillover effect of environmental related issues

5. Envt and …
 Hydropolitics
 Politics is about answering who gets, what,
when and how (Harold Dwight Lasswell
1936).
 Based on David Easton`s (1995) Definition of politics ,
Turton (2002) define hydropolitics as the authoritative
allocation of values in society with respect to water.

Water policies

Environmental policies, has to do with political
decisions especially in transboundary watercourses

6. Envt and..
 Some of the major environmental hazards
common across the world includes;
 Land degradation

Deforestation
 Desiccation
 flooding

soil erosion
 Pollution (water, air, soil,…)
 Climate change

Lose of biodiversity

7. Envt and…
 Why states cooperate?
 Cooperation in transboundary
watercourses have a lot of importance
 Sadoff and Grey (2002) identified four types
of cooperation and benefits
A. Increasing benefits To the River-
Environmental Benefits to the river-
Maintaining the health of the river

8. Envt and…
B. Increasing Benefits From the River-
Direct Economic Benefits- Irrigation,
Hydroelectric power, fishery, tourism,…
C. Reducing Costs Because of the River-
move away from conflict to cooperation,
from insecurity and instability to stability
and peaceful co-existence, avoiding
competition and scarcity induced conflicts

9. Envt and…
D. Increasing Benefits Beyond the River-
Integration of regional infrastructure,
markets and trade, Common Market….
 The base for any moves of the riparian
states to generate economic as well as
political benefits is based on the first
benefit maintaining the health of the river.

10. Geography of the Nile
 Two Tributaries
1. White Nile-14 % of the total flow –Source from the
Equatorial Lakes Region
• Less runoff and low sediment-due to the large
swamps in South Sudan
2. Blue Nile-86 % of the total flow-source from
Ethiopian highlands. Consists of three major sub-
basins and their tributaries-Abbay, Tekeze-Atbara
and Baro-Akobo-Sobat.
• High runoff and sediment
• 10 + 1 Riparians-Burundi, D.R.Congo, Egypt,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan,
Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan


13. Environmental Problems/Issues in the
(Eastern) Nile Basin

The major environmental problem in the Eastern Nile
Basin is Water Scarcity which is a result of multiple
environmental problems and degradation.

Water scarcity is a result of imbalance between
demand and supply
 This could happen when
• Demand rises while supply decreases
• Supply decreases while there is no a change in
demand-due to envtal degradation, water quality
deterioration, CC, drought, over consumption
• Structural scarcity- Mismanagement of water
hinders effective use due to disproportionate,
unequal distn and/or access

14. Ctd…
 shortage of water-water scarcity is due to
different environmental hazards,
• Drought
• Deforestation-Desertification
• Land degradation-Erosion
• Lose of biodiversity
• water pollution-siltation
• Climate change

15. Problems… ctd..
 These environmental problems are a
result of rapidly growing population in the
riparian states. As a result
 The demand for land
 The demand for water, increases which in
turn aggravates the destruction of the
environment, the ecosystem

16. Ctd….
 Water scarcity in the Eastern Nile Basin is
not a result of the environmental hazards
as a result of rapid population growth only
 Politics do play its part
 Lack of cooperation
 Conflict between the riparians on the
question of the Nile
 War and instability in the region

17. Country Priorities and Policies
 Egypt
• Three policy pillars until 2017
A.Optimal utilization of the available water resource
B.Water Quality Protection
C.International cooperation with other Nile Basin
states (ICID 2005).
• Egypt`s policy highly focused on

Non-water allocation issues such as trade and
investment

Environmental priority is on water quality-Siltation

Availability of water--- the need for more water

18. Ctry… Egypt

Less emphasis to upstream water shed management
• Lack of political commitment
• Adhered to prior agreements, 1929 and 1959 and
prior use, historic or established rights
• Emphasis on the availability of water in upstream
states-like rain and other river basins
• The Fall of Hosni Mubarak in Cairo…. Eclipse….
 The Egyptian Public Diplomacy Delegation
 The Visit of the PM Essam Sharaf
• The Future Government in Egypt- New Policy on
the Nile?

19. Lake Nasser-Egypt
The Nile River in Egypt

20. Country…
 Sudan
• More beneficiary from cooperation-more
concerned with
 Weary of upstream land degradation

Flood

Water availability-the need for more water
 Watershed management
 Siltation
 Sedimentation-70 – 80 mln USD/yr for cleaning
up canals

Desiccation

21. Ctry…Sudan
 Sudan…
• Hydropolitical dilemma (Tesfaye
2001).
 Nature of the regime
 North-South Conflict
 Close to Egypt, religion, ideology, the 1959
agreement, Arabized Sudan, economic,
political, the big-brother syndrome

Lack of political commitment

Adhere to established or historic rights

22. Sudan Sediment deposit along the Nile

23. Ctry…South Sudan
 South Sudan

The formal secession of South Sudan on July
2011 will change the hydropolitics of the Nile
 One new Nile State

The Sudd Swamp and the Jonglei Canal- twin
crimes against nature and humanity
(Yohannes 2008).
 Position not clearly stated but can be
speculated

24. Ctry…Ethiopia
 Ethiopia

Solving the Nile issue is beyond
environmental issues
 Major environmental problems include
• Deforestation
• Land degradation-sever soil erosion
• Growing desertification
• Climate Change
• Food insecurity as a result of environmental
hazards
•

25. Soil erosion and deforestation in upstream Ethiopia along the Abbay River

26. Ctry …. Ethiopia
 Politically committed to solve the Nile
Question
 Equitable and reasonable utilization-
cooperation is the solution-equal footing
 New Nile Agreement-the CFA is the
solution

27. The Hidase Dam-overall
implications
•Hydropolitical Implications
•Relations between Riparians
•Upstream-Downstream
Riparians –Balance of Power
•New era of cooperation or
new era of dead-lock?

28. Hidase….
 Environmental Implications

Low Sedimentation in downstream
 Watershed management in upstream
 Reforestation in upstream to elongate the life
of the Hidase Dam-multiple implications
 Water regulated downstream
 Minimizing Siltation

29. Why Cooperation is a
Necessity
 To challenge the challenges
• Environmental challenges needs the cooperation
of the riparians from source to mouth to solve the
common problems they faced
• For regional Stability
• Averting environmentally induced conflicts-which
could led to war

30. Why coopn…
• Enhancing cooperation and regional integration –
beyond the river
• To the river, from the river, because of the river,
and beyond the river
• Establishing a stable and peaceful Nile Basin: a
home for citizens of all the Nile Valley.

31. The Future
 Government Change in Egypt
 South Sudan-the New Player in the Game
 Ethiopia`s proactive moves---
 The CFA-Article 6
 NBI-ENSAP-ENTRO Projects-

Watershed management
 Flood preparedness
 External actors and finance
 Swim together or sink together…

32. I thank you!!!!