NILE COOPERATION PRESENTATION BY NDFs TITLE THE NILE

NILE COOPERATION PRESENTATION BY NDFs TITLE: THE NILE IS AN ASSET OF COOPERATION AND BENEFITS OF COOPERATION BY JOHN B. GAKUMBA Walter, NATIONAL PROGRAM COORDINATOR, RWANDA NDF. ONE NILE ONE FAMILY!

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NILE BASIN REGION “We cannot convince our people that water belongs to Egypt or Sudan or another country, ” John Nyaro, Kenya’s chief negotiator among the Nile basin countries, told NPR. “If a Maasai is crossing the river Mara with his cattle, can he convince those cows, ‘No, you cannot drink this water. This water belongs to Egypt’? ”

[What, Where ? ]The Nile River, with an estimated length of over 6800 km, is the longest river flowing from south to north over 35 degrees of latitude. It is fed by two main river systems: the White Nile, with its sources on the Equatorial Lake Plateau (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zaire and Uganda), and the Blue Nile, with its sources in the Ethiopian highlands. The sources are located in humid regions, with an average rainfall of over 1000 mm per year. The arid region starts in Sudan, the largest country of Africa, which can be divided into three rainfall zones: the extreme south of the country where rainfall ranges from 1200 to 1500 mm per year; the fertile clay-plains where 400 to 800 mm of rain falls annually; and the desert northern third of the country where rainfall averages only 20 mm per year. Further north, in Egypt, precipitation falls to less than 20 mm per year.

Continuation…. A significant feature of the Nile River is its transboundary nature. The Basin is shared among 10 riparian states and covers 10. 3% of the area of the continent. This transboundary character of the Nile presents a great challenge. At the heart of such a challenge is the imperative of poverty eradication. The sustainable development of the River Nile can help alleviate poverty by providing enhanced food, power, water security, climate change challenges and associated employment creation.

[Why, When ? ]Cooperation on the Nile Cooperation in the Nile Basin started in the form of bilateral agreements since the beginning of the twentieth century. As an example of the bilateral cooperation, Sudan and Egypt signed an Agreement for the utilization of the shared waters of the Nile River in November 1959. Later, countries of the Nile Basin have been engaged in regional cooperative activities over the past thirty years: "HYDROMET", 1967 -1993; "TECCONILE", 1993 -1999; and "NBI", 1998 -now. The transitional mechanism was officially launched in February 1999 by the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin States under the title of Nile Basin Initiative NBI.

The Initiative provides a unique forum for the countries of the Nile to move forward a cooperative process to realize tangible benefits in the Basin and build a solid foundation of trust and confidence. The Nile Basin countries have invested significant time, effort, and resources in launching and sustaining the NBI. The Initiative provides a transitional institutional mechanism for cooperation, an agreed vision and basin-wide framework, and a process to facilitate substantial investment in the Nile Basin. It represents deep commitment by the Nile riparian countries to foster cooperation and pursue jointly the sustainable development and management of Nile water resources for the benefit of all.

Lessons learned from this history of cooperation include the importance of allowing "enough time" to build trust, the necessity of yielding positive results for a "carry on" conviction, the value of the role of the international community in bridging gaps, the indispensibility of the political will, the weight of investments, the significance of setting a dialogue, the worth of bringing people together (exchanging visits, etc. ) and the role of the civil society organizations in boosting cooperation at a national level.

Shared Benefits Each member states is entitled to benefiting from the following equally: Building Dialogue and Cooperation, Enhancing People and Institutions capacity, Water Resources Management, Water Resources Development

Sub-Regional and Sub-Basin Benefits 1. Burundi Hosts the Regional Agricultural Trade and Productivity Project Management Unit Initiative 2. Kenya Hosts offices of the Sio Malaba Malakisi Transboundary Project in Kakamega 3. Tanzania Hosts the Regional Power Trade Project Management Unit in Dar es Salaam and the Mara Trans-boundary Project in Musoma

4. Ethiopia Hosts offices of the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program and the Water Resources Planning and Management Project in Addis Ababa. 5. Rwanda Hosts the offices of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program, the Kagera Trans-boundary Project, Regional Interconnection Project and the Rusumo Falls Project in Kigali. 6. Uganda Hosts the offices of the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat in Entebbe.

NILE BASIN CHALLENGES The Basin is shared among 10 riparian states; only one river basin -the Danube- is shared by more countries (13). This transboundary character of the Nile presents a great challenge: the imperative of achieving truly sustainable management of a river system whose development potential has created different aspirations and expectations among so many different peoples living both within and beyond the Basin. At the heart of such a challenge is the imperative of poverty eradication and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Cooperative and Sustainable development on the River Nile can help combat all its challenges that are based on ever increasing populations, urbanization, climate change and industrialization.

Most of the Nile countries located in arid and semi-arid regions are facing a water crisis at various levels and time. The climate change crisis, the civil wars and instabilities, along with economic and debt crisis have greatly brought to the basin serious and severe problems and consequences. It is clear that water as a natural resource will be a limiting factor for economic development since it is limited, valuable, and vulnerable. Competing demands for water may exist among basin countries, and among different sectors within each basin country. Complicated hydrology of the Nile Basin with the overlapping of natural watershed borders and political borders makes the integrated river basin development an extremely difficult task for water resources planners.

Water resources planners and managers have recognized that integrated river basin development projects will ensure sustainability and effective water management in the basin. Nevertheless, there are many concerns for equitable and reasonable sharing for the river waters, also the concern of not causing appreciable harm for other riparian countries.

The Nile Basin Opportunities The challenge can also become an opportunity - an opportunity to promote regional economies development in one of the poorest regions of the world. The Nile above Aswan is one of the least developed rivers of the world. There is an opportunity to transform the Nile, through collaborative and visible actions on the ground, into a unifying force that builds regional and international interdependencies and promotes economic activities which could enable cobasin states to participate as partners in emerging regional and global trade.

Effective water management, including water harvesting and conservation, can bring benefits to all involved riparians - which means that there is real “ win-win “ potential. Also, tourism, agriculture, mining potentials, etc are an open opportunity.

Energy Potential in the Basin For every developing and ready to grow economy, energy must be a benchmarking tool. The main electrical energy resources in the region that have stimulated interest in regional power sector integration are the hydropower resources of the Nile River itself. The region is also well endowed with other resources which are not actively exploited; these sources can be alternative to control over dependency on the only resource in a changing climate: hydropower—potential over 200, 000 GWh per annum from 46, 000 MW (this excludes the DR Congo; if included, the hydropower potential for the nine countries rises to 660, 000 GWh generated from 150, 000 MW)

petroleum (Egypt, Sudan, DR Congo and to a small extent in Uganda)— 624 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) natural gas (Egypt, Ethiopia and Tanzania)— 1, 300 MTOE geothermal (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda)— 2, 540 MW coal (Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, DR Congo)— 500 million tonnes, also unknown quantities of coal bed methane from Lake Kivu (Rwanda and DR Congo)—sufficient for 700 MW of electricity generation. There is also extensive potential for harnessing renewable resources for electricity generation (particularly wind and solar) and for energy substitution (e. g. , solar water heating substituting for electrical geysers).

Energy tariffs currently Electricity tariffs vary significantly between NBI countries, from 2. 3 USc/k. Wh in Egypt to nine times that level in Rwanda. The electricity price for consumers in Rwanda would be even higher if the partial government subsidies to generation were to be removed making energy access almost impossible to normal citizens. Average Final User Electricity Tariffs in NBI Countries Country Tariff (USc/k. Wh) Egypt 2. 3 Sudan 9. 2 Ethiopia 6. 0

Uganda 10. 0 Kenya 9. 4 Rwanda 20. 0 Burundi 8. 5 DR Congo 7. 1 Tanzania 11. 0 Sources: ADB (2007), World Bank (2008), SADC tariff study

Other major challenges of Nile Basin Agriculture and Food Insecurity Drought Flooding Sea Level Rise and Coastal Zones Supply and Demand of Nile Water Health issues; HIV/Aids, Cholera, Malaria, etc Rural Livelihoods All related to climate change and human activities.

[How? ] Solutions! Motivating and facilitating factors for development Improving engagement of all stakeholders and development partners at all levels Identification of Vulnerable Sectors Priority Setting for Adaptation Activities on climate changes Public awareness and dissemination of information Mainstreaming Adaptation Actions Developing and Maintaining the Knowledge Base Identification of Best Adaptation Practices for Ecosystem Management Transferability and exchange of experiences across the region

Concerning Climate Change Sharing and promoting; Best Practices in Livestock Management: Autonomous Adaptation Practices in Kenya and Ethiopia Grazing Management in Kenyan Rangelands Index Based Livestock Insurance Disaster Preparedness and Response Management of Drought Risk Best Practice in Coastal Zone Protection Management of Low Elevation Coastal Zones Best Practice in Water Management Integrated Water Resource Management Agricultural Water management Micro-water Harvesting for Climate Change Adaptation Cross-scale Water Management Best practice Adaptation in Health Improved Prediction of Malaria Disease Surveillance and Enhancing Research

Although communities in the Nile Basin region have responded to climate variability by altering cropping patterns, livestock and water management practices, these largely autonomous adaptation responses are unlikely to build long-term resilience of livelihoods, ecosystems and economies to the projected scale and impact of climate change. A long-term adaptation and mitigation strategy needs to be put in place by region, sub-regional and sub-basin organization cooperative with proper funding.

Conclusively Unilateral development of the river outside an agreed framework is likely to be unsustainable development, having the opposite effects in the long run, perpetuating poverty promoting dispute, even conflict and leading to “lose-lose”.

Thank You Merci Beaucoup Always, ONE NILE ONE FAMILY!