The river Nile is the longest river in the world shared by 10 countries in the Nile Basin: Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The basin represents one of the most complex and sensitive hydrological systems in the world including parts and entireties of ten countries with different culture, language religion and historical background. The Nile Basin countries are experiencing a number of problems such as rapid population growth, limited water resources, environmental degradation and poverty. In 25 years time the population of the Nile riparian countries is expected to have doubled to more than 300 million people. Of course this situation could not persist. It is realized nowadays that co-operation among the Nile countries is a prerequisite for the further development of the Basin and that capacity building is playing a crucial role in that process.
 |
River Nile Facts
|
WATER AS A HOT POLITICAL ISSUE IN THE NILE REGION
The UN's medium population projection forecasts that by the middle of the coming century, 4.4 out of the 10 billion people will live in 58 countries experiencing either water scarcity or water stress. Food consumption in developing countries will then be more than doubled, with an annual increase of food demand for North Africa of 3.8%. In addition municipal and industrial water demands will grow even faster, while at the same time urban and industrial pollution are limiting the use of available sources. This all will put an enormous pressure on the further development of land and water resources and solutions to the needs raised by the society should be generated. This situation will definitely lead to a more problem solving driven approach.
The Nile region is one of the regions where political stability is very much related to the availability of water. For thousands of years the water resources of the Nile Basin were abundant compared to the demand. However, as living standards and life styles changed as a result of a fast economic development and at the same time population increased the demand for water is approaching available supply limits. Especially in Egypt and Sudan, the two most downstream riparian countries, most of the available water resources of the Nile have been utilised, leaving only a small margin for future development. The conflicts between downstream and upstream riparian states is a classical one which has not been settled to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, while past agreements on water distribution are continuously being challenged. There seems to be a growing consensus that unconventional solutions are needed to solve these water scarcity problems. In recent years an increasing political will has emerged among country leaders. This should create the enabling environment for further co-operation. Strategic elements for success are: the start of a dialogue between leaders and professionals responsible for managing and use of water, the exchange of experiences and the promotion of information and data sharing among professionals and institutions. The risk of failure of this co-operative process is still high and depends also on national domestic situations and international influences. However, the NBCBN-RE project has already proven its role in creating mutual trust among experts based on professional respect and friendly co-operation. These achievements will be sustained and even fostered by using the innovative concept of Knowledge Networks through which a more permanent exchange of information and views can take place and so to contribute to more stability in the region.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
Within the context of this project and based on the experiences of the past years with the Nile Basin, the following overview of challenging aspects can be given. All of these topics are related to the political sensitivity of water-related issues, the availability of research capacity in the water sector and the existing institutional conditions.
The structural lack of research-capacity in the water sector
Most of the Basin countries are burdened by weak human and institutional capacity to manage water resources in an integrated manner. This situation applies not only to the management of transboundary waters, but also to the management of national waters. Water management within each country is still fragmented between sectors, and there is little integration among various sectors of water use, between quantity and quality, and between surface and groundwater. Moreover the diversity of institutional capacities in the countries is large. The availability of senior water professionals, for instance, varies from not more than 10 in one country (Rwanda) to a few hundred in another (e.g. Egypt). Moreover, six of the ten riparians have undergone significant civil strife, resulting in a vast backlog of water-related investments, inadequate infrastructure management, and a need for institutional and human resource development.
Lack of trust and partnership
By its very nature, management of transboundary waters is a complex matter. In the case of the Nile, collective or joint development of the Nile waters is made even more difficult by the fact that there is limited trade and exchange among the riparian countries. Political, economic, social, and cultural (including language) differences among the countries pose a major challenge to such exchange. Within the water resources sector, there are few opportunities to exchange information and experience on a regional basis. The absence of such opportunities among the Basin countries has been a constraint to building a Nile water community engaged in extensive professional interaction and joint problem-solving.
Based on the experiences during the last years dealing with the River Engineering community of NBCBN as a knowledge network there is a strong believe that the knowledge network and CoP's concept provides great opportunities to cope with the main issues as described before. Therefore this is the crucial moment to continue stimulating the further development of these networks and communities.
Little or no R&D by local experts
At the moment significant financial support is offered by various donors for research (e.g. on Water and Climate) in Africa. However most of the countries in the Nile region have a serious shortage of capable specialists in the water sector. As a consequence either no R&D is taken place or foreign experts do the main research work in those countries. They are not only more expensive, but they also lack the knowledge of the local situation and context.
The absence of an operational co-operative framework
If one thing has become very clear these last five to ten years then it is the need for a regional approach to cope with the main problems. The character of most of the problems especially related to water and environment goes beyond the boundaries of the individual countries. However, there is not yet a co-operative framework operational for the Nile region.
No contextual on-the-job training
Support usually addresses one link in the knowledge chain. New people are trained and their level of research skills and experience is leveraged. But after the training they go home. And in many cases the potential knowledge relationships within the group setting of the training fall apart.
The need for practical and creative solutions
To solve the present problems in the Nile region requires a non-traditional approach. On the one hand there is the need for stimulating the socio-economic development of the region through solving practical problems, on the other hand there is the need for new creative solutions. This requires that the world of knowledge generators (researchers and professionals) have to be linked with the world of the implementers (decision makers and public and private sector agencies) and the users. The challenge is to move from innovative ideas through planning to actions on the ground. Where this is already quite complicated to achieve in just one organisation, sector or country, the more difficult will it be when these issues have to be addressed in a complicated environment as just described above. This requires the development of new approaches and new organisational mechanisms.
