Water and Politics

  The sun sets on the Nile... and this blog series ( Source ) I admit this has been a GERD dominated series, but I hope its been clear why... This is the foremost hyropolitical issue on the African continent that is shaping a new geopolitical landscape.  I hope this series has been an informative journey from why dams are built and their ecological and political consequences, particularly how the GERD is illustrative of how conflict can arise when societies fail to adapt to hydrological changes. The Nile basin is a story of states balancing basic human needs, ecological integrity, transboundary commitments and economic development. At the end of the day decision making in the developing world will favour economic growth, thoughts to political and environment consequences usually come later. Dam building is but one aspect of where a macro political vision exposes the disproportionate voices of water users, triaging the needs of populations and other riparian states. I also ackn...

The 2017 Nile Basin Initiative Heads of State Summit in Kampala ( Source )  The Nile basin is particularly vulnerable to conflict due to the seasonal variability and inconsistent availability of surface water resources, especially in dryland areas in downstream riparians. As such, communities are used to imaginative water management interventions, hence the concentration of significant dam and irrigation schemes. This also encourages knowledge exchange between riparian states. This blog has hinted that transboundary agreements could go some way to improve management and sustainability of water flows in the Nile Basin, of course this is easier said than done. The World Bank concludes that lack of cooperation over management of the Nile has been exacerbated by challenges that already beset the region, further complicate by its the transboundary nature.  I will concede the blog's talk of water wars and political squabbling takes away from the immense efforts riparian states have ...