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Introduction: The Nile Development Game

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Abstract

Although 71% of the earth surface is covered by water, only 0.01% of total water volume on our blue planet is freshwater running in lakes and rivers (Ojakangas 1997: 67). About 60% of this global surface water is shared between two or more countries (UN-Water 2008: 3), creating 276 transboundary lakes and river basins, which host around one-third of the world’s population, cover almost one-half of the world’s land surface, and cross the borders of 148 countries (Giordano et al. 2014: 245, 246). Because freshwater is the source of life and the essential element that fuels vital sectors in the economy of every nation, these figures can justify the growing concerns associated with various scientific fields studying issues related to transboundary river basins, amongst which are the disciplines of international relations (IR), water governance, and spatial planning. In this respect, it is widely argued that large-scale developmental schemes in transboundary watersheds may provoke conflict or promote cooperation amongst different riparian states sharing international watercourses, often affecting basin communities and ecosystems, especially in those regions of water scarcity including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (Fig. 1.1). At the heart of these debates lies the Nile Basin hydropolitics.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As reported in the BBC, it has been recently argued that the Amazon River is the longest after an expedition to Peru discovered in 2006 a new source for the river to reach a total length of 6800 km, while the Nile is 6695 km long (Duffy 2007).

  2. 2.

    As illustrated by Hargreaves Heap et al. (1992) reviewed in Chwaszcza (2008: 145–146), the Prisoner’s Dilemma is the story of two members in a criminal gang whom police arrested. The investigator is sure that both are guilty but has no clear evidence. He gives an offer for each to think about individually in their solitary custody. The offer is as follows: if both do not confess, he will give them a minor punishment; if both confess, he will recommend “less than the most severe sentence” for both; and if one confess and the other does not, the confessor will get the “lenient treatment,” whereas the other get the “book slapped at him.”

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    Mina Michel Samaan

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Samaan, M.M. (2019). Introduction: The Nile Development Game. In: The Nile Development Game. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02665-3_1

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