1.The Nile Basin Opportunities, Challenges, and Research Priorities CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) Nile Basin Regional Focal ProgramNBI-IWMI Regional Focal Program Workshop

2. The Nile Basin Longest River, 6700km Basin Area: 3.2 million sq.km, 10% of Africa Basin shared by 11 Basin countries: Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ke nya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda Population of over 400 million; > 200 mill. in the basin Rich natural and environmental assets Rich historical heritage 3. Water Resources Planning/Management issues . The Scale factor Agriculture Department Livestock DepartmentPrecipitationForest Department Rural Water Supply DepartmentFishing ForestReservoirUrban Water Supply DepartmentHydropowerIrrigation Department RunoffPower River Basin BoundaryIndustry Urban WSSDepartment Industry DepartmentRural WSS Rainfed AgrFisheries DepartmentReturn Flow IrrigationRecreationGroundwater InflowEnvironment DepartmentCommunity UseTransport Department NavigationTourism Department Infiltration / Recharge Wetlands / Environment LivestockGroundwater DepartmentBase Flow / PumpingGroundwaterSurface Water Department Ocean Development/CZM Department Trans-boundary Water Institutionsthere is a need to integrate the activities of multiple actors in a basin frameworkIrrigationGroundwater OutflowOcean 4. The Nile Basin. Lake Victoria BasinKey features Largest freshwater lake in Africa; shared by 3 countries; Lake area: 68,000 km2 Catchment area: 250,000 sq km; Lake offers major regulation of flow Major source of water for Urban use, irrigation, fishery, navigation, waste disposal, Water management issues: Lake level decline, Pollution; Upstream high population density land degradation/soil erosion, siltation Key Water Management Challenges: Regulating abstractions among different users Regulating effluent discharges; water quality monitoring Water hyacinth Sustainable fishing Understanding the resource base expanding the knowledge frontier for better management 5. The Nile Basin. the Sudd WetlandsKey Features Complex hydrology; regulates flow and serves as water filter (WQ) Home to endemic fish, birds, mammal and plant species. Regionally significant part of the Nile Basin Key Water Management Issues Post-conflict region Poverty; infrastructure gap Major interest to conserve water Increasing investments in land; Pollution threat - oil Key Water Management Challenges How to support emergence and consolidation of sustainable WR management policies, strategies, institutions Filling the data and information gap Promoting sustainable development factoring in the above 6. The Nile Basin. the Blue NileKey Features A major tributary of the Nile; contributes about 60 per cent of annual flow Highly eroded watershed soil loss through erosion; impact on livelihood Has biggest share of hydropower potential upstream; excellent sites for dams Opportunities for regional cooperationKey Water Management Issues Erosion (u/s), sedimentation (d/s) Impacts of watershed management on catchment scale; Blue and green water under different climate change/variability scenarios Flood mitigation; recession agriculture Key Water Management Challenges How to develop and manage cascade water infrastructure to deliver sustainable benefits across countries and uses; 7. The Nile Basin. the Nile DeltaKey Features Nile fully regulated (Aswan High Dam Very little rainfall; No significant locally generated river flow Well developed water resources infrastructureKey Water Management Issues Declining water quality, Sea level rise, Soil salinization, Potential impact of upstream developments on water availability ? Impact of climate change on agricultural water use Key Water Management Challenges How to sustain the water use systems under changing climatic, hydrologic, and socioeconomic boundary conditions 8. the Nile Basin Countries Facing rapidly changing economies and population- Increased water demand - Increased energy demand - More effluent flows into water bodies water quality concerns - More encroachments into floodplains Increased risk to floodsSource: World Bank; World Development Indicator database8 9. the threat of climate change.Upstream economies: - Agriculture is backbone of economy - hostage to climatic variability? 10. and a massive infrastructure gap700 600North America Australia China- 6150 m3/person - 4729 - 2486 492800788900363370 Burkina Faso307400Namibia500139142 Tanzania1110047114200Algeria300South AfricaArtificial storage m3 per personMoroccoNigeriaKenyaEthiopia0Lesothostorage / capitaWater Storage the ability to mitigate against variability through the simple principle of storing water from times of plenty for use in times of scarcity. 11. and dependency on upstream ripariansPreemptive control of water or Collaboration? 11 12. The Nile Basin. Key Water Management Challenges Cumulative impacts of growing demand against a more or less static or declining water quantity; declining water quality; How to manage this incongruity in the short, medium and long-term: Institutional : policy; regulation; agreements; basin organizations mandates; trust and confidence Technical: tools; data, information; man power; networks; Infrastructural: management (us/ds); regulation/coordination; standards; monitoring 13. Opportunities for cooperation Flood risks management: data sharing; early warning systems, preparedness and mitigation. Ethiopia Sudan; Uganda South Sudan; Ethiopia South Sudan Hydropower development and power trade: Rusumo falls (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania) Ethiopia Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania Agricultural trade Joint management of water storage facilities: E.g. Lake Victoria (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda) Ethiopia Sudan Egypt Managing Risks (e.g. climate change, pollution, sedimentation) Managing scarce water resources: Supply development Demand side management13 14. Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Launched in 1999 Shared Vision: Sustainable socio-economic development through equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.Three Core Functions: - Facilitation of Cooperation - Water Resources Management - Water Resources Development14 15. Facilitating Cooperation (basin-wide) Lead Centre: NBI Secretariat Program Objective: To facilitate, support and nurture cooperation amongst the Nile Basin countries so as to promote timely and efficient joint actions for securing benefit from the common Nile Basin water resources. Program Description: Providing and operating a unique platform for inter-country dialogue and negotiation on issues of sustainable water management and development. Facilitating regional liaison among water-related interests and provision of strategic information. 16. Water Resource Management (basin-wide) Lead Centre : NBI Secretariat Program Objective: To assess, manage and safeguard the water resource base that supports the peoples of the Nile Basin through applying the principles of knowledge-based IWRM to water development planning and assessment. Focus areas: Development, maintenance and administration of analytic systems and capacity Technical analysis on strategic water resources management issues Knowledge management River basin monitoring Transboundary policy formulation and advisory support 17. Water Resource Development (sub-basin) Lead Centre: SAP Centres (NELSAP-CU and ENTRO) Program Objective: To identify, prepare and facilitate investment in transboundary water development projects and programs whilst avoiding negative impacts on the health of the Nile Basins resources through applying the principles of IWRM.Program Description: Assisting its member countries to achieve joint water development projects and management programs through supporting the identification of development opportunities, the preparation of projects and facilitation of investment to enable member countries to implement the projects. 18. Key achievements of NBI Brings all riparians together and provide the form for dialogue Through technical cooperation, generated wealth of knowledge on the Nile Basin water resources system Improved mutual understanding among riparian states and non-governmental stakeholders of the fragility, sensitivity, hydro-politics, of the Nile Prepared joint projects and initiated implementation Mobilized major international support Contributed towards reducing information/knowledge asymmetry among riparian countries Succeeded to bring the cooperation agenda high in all riparian countries18 19. How the research community can help Areas for Applied Research - Exploring ways for enhancing efficiency in agricultural water use: - Where are the hope spots for improvement - What is possible how much water can be reclaimed? - How much would it ease stress on the water resources - Demand side management and its potential for alleviating pressure on the Nile water resources - Ecological flows: - Cause-effect relationship with water use sectors - Estimation of environmental flows - Rainfed Agriculture - What are the risks due to climate change? And what adaptation mechanisms are available; blue water green water; - Transboundary Water Resources Managing water scarce river basin lessons from other basins19 20. How the research community can help Areas for Applied Research - Salinity: - Combined water and salt balance development for the NileDelta - Evaluation of scenarios for managing salinity (water application technology and impacts on salinity, impacts of upstream water resources development) - Tradeoffs - Benefits of cooperation and risks of non-cooperation - Policy research: policy gaps, impacts of policy applications, .. - Science - policy/decision making interface what best practices are available out there? - Groundwater resources20