Transboundary water resources “A comparative study”: The lessons learnt to help solve the Nile basin water conflict

Abstract

The problematic water situation in Egypt, as one of the River Nile basin countries, has been heightened by the harmful effects of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Egypt’s share of the Nile water. In the light of this Egyptian attention was directed towards a study of worldwide transboundary water problems, in order to find the most effective methods for dealing successfully with water shortage problems in basin countries. The present study focuses on the most successful experiences in the management and development of international river basins worldwide, as well as studying the possibility of implementing these experiences in other basins, especially the River Nile basin. The study showed that overcoming the water scarcity problems in Egypt and increasing the Nile water yield for all the basin countries can be achieved, first of all through serious cooperation among all the basin countries for minimizing the huge water losses from the river (more than 1480 Billion Cubic Metres per year which represents roughly 90% of the whole basin income), and secondly to make use of the most successful technical and political experiences that have been implemented in other international river basins mentioned in the present study.

The downstream impact of the first and second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

“…Economic prosperity is a function of the balance of geopolitical interests, which are determined not only by the resources of a country but also by the resources of its neighbours (Adhvaryu et al, 2021). Future structural and environmental assessments suggest that the problem of water scarcity will worsen in the lower Nile (Ashour et al, 2019;Coffel et al, 2019), and mutual intransigence will not address this but will lead to decisions that will have intertwined and unpredictable consequences that will further complicate the problem.…”

“…This has led to renewed geopolitical tensions and water-related con icts that have raged for three decades, despite appeasement efforts under international auspices that seek to guarantee each country's share and protect its water security (Nasr and Neef, 2016;Turhan, 2021). The announcement came without prior notice or negotiations, hence the subsequent aggressive verbal response from Egypt, which expressed serious concerns about reducing its water share given the potential control capabilities of the GERD, considered by Egypt as a serious threat to its water, power, and agricultural supply (Ashour et al, 2019;Makonye, 2021).…”

“…It is certain that the GERD will have a signi cant economic, social and political impact in Ethiopia, but Egypt fears the consequences of this on changing the ow of the Blue Nile and the ecosystems associated with it, not to mention the apprehension associated with management systems during future droughts (Abtew and Dessu, 2019). Yet, water scarcity and declining yields could be overcome through effective cooperation to reduce massive water losses (over 90% of the basin's total in ows), and by drawing bene ted from the most successful technical and political experiences implemented in other international river basins (Ashour et al, 2019).…”

New technique for preparing and reusing agricultural drainage water safely in irrigation

“…Since the last decades of the 20th century, Egypt has suffered from a lack and limitation of available water resources from the River Nile, precipitation, renewable and non-renewable aquifers (Ashour et al 2019). Fifty years ago, water uses in Egypt began to exceed the available water resources (Gad 2017).…”

Modelo de hidrossustentabilidade econômica como suporte à decisão na alocação de água em sistemas de recursos hídricos complexos.

“…O conflito pela água tem sido um problema físico, de qualidade, social, político e ambiental, geralmente devido à escassez hídrica (ASHOUR; ALY; ABUELEYON, 2019;SIVAKUMAR, 2011;SRDJEVIC et al, 2019;STUDART et al, 2021). A resolução de conflitos devido a disputa por água impacta diretamente na segurança hídrica, energética e alimentar (ZHANG et al, 2018) com consequências econômicas, financeiras, político-administrativa e ambientais.…”