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The Nile and Its Catchment Area

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Nile Water Rights

Abstract

The diversity of the geographic, climatic, hydrological, and socio-economic conditions along the Nile’s almost 7000-km length is a prime example of the challenges facing transboundary cooperation. This chapter provides an overview of the Nile’s sources, catchment area, and river course, as well as of the diverse climatic conditions in the basin that result in some riparian states having water in abundance while others face water scarcity. It furthermore sketches the population structures and economies in the Nile Basin, the development and uses of the river, and the ebb and flow of political relations between the riparian states. This overview of the framework conditions in the Nile Basin shows that the basin is characterized by the strong heterogeneity of its riparian states’ situations and their interests, a classic situation of international resource competition that is plainly reflected in the hydropolitics of the countries. Particular challenges for the Nile riparian states are high population growth across the entire river basin, increasing water scarcity, environmental degradation, precarious food security, and heightened energy demands.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Encyclopædia Britannica Online (2017).

  2. 2.

    Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, becoming the 11th riparian state on the Nile.

  3. 3.

    FAO (2005), p. 21, Table 5.

  4. 4.

    Country data available at NBI, Member States, http://www.nilebasin.org/index.php/nbi/member-states (accessed 27 June 2019).

  5. 5.

    Encyclopædia Britannica - Global Edition (2011), p. 12075.

  6. 6.

    After Lake Superior in North America. NBI (2016), p. 17.

  7. 7.

    Encyclopædia Britannica - Global Edition (2011), p. 12078.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Allan (2012), p. 1186.

  10. 10.

    Salman (2013), p. 17; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 76–77.

  11. 11.

    Waterbury (1979), p. 16.

  12. 12.

    About 10% of the total Nile flow, Encyclopædia Britannica - Global Edition (2011), p. 12078.

  13. 13.

    The steady flow of the White Nile derives from the Great Lakes on the upper reaches of the White Nile, which provide a constant flow that is marginally influenced by the seasonal rains, as well as from the regulatory effect of the Sudd area on the outflow after the swamps. Encyclopædia Britannica - Global Edition (2011), pp. 12077–12078.

  14. 14.

    Last (2012), p. 490.

  15. 15.

    FAO Aquastat (2019a). The Blue Nile thus contributes an average of 59% of the total Nile flow. See also Last (2012), p. 490.

  16. 16.

    Salman (2011), p. 158; Taha (2010), p. 181.

  17. 17.

    See Oloo (2011), p. 156.

  18. 18.

    Ward and Roach (2012), pp. 62–63. The Aswan High Dam is the second-largest dam in Africa, with a storage capacity of 162 billion cubic meters. FAO (2005), p. 23, Table 7.

  19. 19.

    Encyclopædia Britannica - Global Edition (2011), pp. 12076–12077.

  20. 20.

    NBI (2012), p. 36.

  21. 21.

    While South Sudan initially contributes water to the Nile flow through several tributaries, the evaporation rate in the South Sudanese swamps is so high that overall, the country does not make a significant contribution to the total water flow of the Nile. Elemam (2010), p. 219.

  22. 22.

    See UN-Water (2015), p. 12, Fig. 1.1.

  23. 23.

    See IPCC (2008), p. 79.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., p. 84.

  25. 25.

    See Nkurunziza (2010), pp. 27 and 29.

  26. 26.

    See Mulira (2010), pp. 136–140.

  27. 27.

    Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 119; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 121. Other significant environmental problems include the degradation of the Lake Victoria ecosystem and soil erosion in Ethiopia. On the causes and effects of pollution of the Nile water, see Wiebe (2001), pp. 736–742.

  28. 28.

    See the country data on population growth in the Nile riparian states at CIA (2019).

  29. 29.

    About 54% or 257 million people. NBI (2016), p. 17.

  30. 30.

    Ibid., p. 171.

  31. 31.

    See UN Development Policy and Analysis Division (2019).

  32. 32.

    NBI (2016), p. 66.

  33. 33.

    For an overview of the different uses of the Nile, see Wiebe (2001), pp. 734–746; Beschorner (1992), pp. 45–46. See also Varis (2000), pp. 624–637.

  34. 34.

    NBI (2016), p. 181.

  35. 35.

    See Oloo (2011), pp. 154–155.

  36. 36.

    On the historical development of irrigation practices in Egypt, see Garretson (1967), pp. 261–262.

  37. 37.

    FAO Aquastat (2019b). Another 9 billion cubic meters of water serve for municipal uses and 2 billion cubic meters for industrial purposes. Ibid.

  38. 38.

    Besides the DR Congo and Nigeria. UN-Water (2014), p. 99.

  39. 39.

    Ibid.

  40. 40.

    On average, 57% of the population in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa had no access to electricity in 2011. Ibid., p. 98.

  41. 41.

    Caponera (1993), p. 662.

  42. 42.

    UN-Water (2014), p. 98.

  43. 43.

    Garretson (1967), pp. 264–265; Dellapenna (1996), pp. 245–246.

  44. 44.

    Oloo (2011), p. 154.

  45. 45.

    For example, during the civil war in the DR Congo in the 1990s, a number of state and non-state actors from Nile Basin states and other countries outside the region were involved. See Adar (2011), p. 180.

  46. 46.

    See Dellapenna (2006), p. 300.

  47. 47.

    Swain (2008), p. 201.

  48. 48.

    See in more detail Kaška (2006), pp. 16–28.

  49. 49.

    Adar (2011), p. 182.

  50. 50.

    See Tafesse (2011), p. 67.

  51. 51.

    As early as during the Middle Ages, Ethiopian rulers repeatedly exerted political pressure on Egypt by threatening to divert Nile water. Egypt responded by prohibiting Ethiopian pilgrims from passing through the Nile to Palestine, see Kharouf-Gaudig (2012), p. 97. Later, relations were particularly strained under the presidency of Sadat, during which Egypt provided financial support to the opposition in Ethiopia, see Ward and Roach (2012), p. 68.

  52. 52.

    See Swain (1997), p. 688; Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 127–128. The Tana Beles project was designed to double hydropower production in Ethiopia and to provide a water supply for new settlements of about 200,000 people.

  53. 53.

    See Chap. 6, Sect. 6.2.8.3.

  54. 54.

    Salman (2011), p. 162.

  55. 55.

    Salman (2013), p. 23.

  56. 56.

    South Sudan became a full member of the EAC on 15 August 2016, see EAC (2019). It is estimated that South Sudan could benefit significantly from cross-border trade with the EAC, see UNDP (2010), p. 23.

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  1. International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), Rome, Italy

    Philine Wehling

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Wehling, P. (2020). The Nile and Its Catchment Area. In: Nile Water Rights. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-60796-1_5

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