Nile River Basin

Nile River Basin

Statistics & background information

Area: 3.3 million km ² more than 81,500 km² are lakes and 70,000 km² are swamps. There are ten riparian countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Total rainfall and flow: The mean annual rainfall over the entire basin is about 2,000 billion m3. The average annual flow at Aswan is about 84 billion m3.

Irrigated agriculture: In Egypt and Sudan, irrigated agriculture is the dominating sector. Over 5.5 million ha are under irrigation, with plans to expand an area of over 4.9 million ha. The present irrigation in the upper White Nile riparian areas is very small and there are plans for a future expansion over an area of 387,000 ha in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. In Ethiopia, the potential identified in the Blue Nile basin includes 100,000 ha of perennial irrigation and 165,000 ha of small-scale seasonal irrigation. The other riparian countries have no potential for irrigation in the basin and depend almost completely on rain-fed agriculture.

Rain-fed agriculture: Major food production in the areas with high rainfall and in the semiarid savannah belt.

Population: The present 280 million is expected to grow to 591 million by 2025 at an average rate of 2.5-3.0%, with an average population density of 955/1,000 ha.

Poverty indicators: GINI Index (> 50%); Half the population is below the international poverty line at $1 a day.

Proposed lead NARES: National Water Research Center (NWRC) of Egypt, Relevant stakeholders in the basin and National institutions dealing with water resources in the ten countries.

Main Issues

Nile waters come from rainfall on the Ethiopian highlands and the catchment areas of the equatorial lakes. The northern part has virtually no rainfall in the summer, while the southern area has heavy rains during the summer months. During the October-May season, both regions are relatively dry due to the presence of the northeast trade winds. The main problem that all countries of the Nile basin face is to ensure the food security of their growing populations. Except for Egypt and Uganda, all the other Nile basin countries had lower per capita food and agricultural production indexes compared to 1982. In Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Ethiopia, the food-security situation deteriorated with an average of 17 percent. Access to high-quality water is likely to lead to a conflict in a situation where the availability of freshwater per capita is decreasing rapidly.

Reasons for Selection

Some of the basin countries are experiencing acute water stress and others are suffering water scarcity during a large part of the year. The arid and semiarid regions of the basin are now experiencing serious environmental degradation that, in turn, affects aquatic ecosystems. The drought cycles and the threat of hunger in many pockets are creating panic among the basin societies, leading to demographic changes and mass rural migration to already strained urban centers. In such a situation of panic, further destruction of the basin's resource base is continuing. This trend will continue in the coming decades unless a concerted effort of the basin's nations, combined with assistance from the international community control the situation so that threats to national security are minimized. The NWRC will act as the lead organization for the CP Water and Food in the Nile basin. The national institutions dealing with water resources in the ten riparian countries are potential stakeholders. The Permanent Technical Commission for Nile Waters, established between Egypt and Sudan in 1960, is a good example of a sub-regional stakeholder in the basin.

Through NWRC, a close collaboration with the ongoing process of cooperation or reform (e.g., Nile Basin Initiative, Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Project, Nile Basin Water Resources Projects, and Lake Victoria Environment Management Project) is envisaged.