River of hope and promise

UN Chronicle, Sept-Nov, 2001 by Mahmoud Abu Zeid

The River Nile is one of the world's great rivers. For millennia, this unique waterway has nourished varied livelihoods, an array of ecosystems and a rich diversity of cultures. The river basin is characterized by a variety of landscapes--with high mountains, tropical forests, woodlands, lakes, savannas, wetlands, arid lands and deserts--culminating in an enormous delta on the Mediterranean Sea. It serves as home to world-class environmental assets, such as Lake Victoria (the second largest body of fresh water by area in the world) and the vast wetlands of the Sudd. It also serves as home to an estimated 160 million people within the boundaries of the Basin, while roughly 300 million live within those ten countries.

Generally, rivers and their associated ecosystems and biological diversity provide life support for a large proportion of the world's population. Worldwide, poor management of land and water resources in many river basins has led to major floods, water shortages, pollution and loss of biodiversity.

Despite the extraordinary natural endowments and rich cultural history of the Nile Basin, its people face considerable challenges. Today, the Basin is characterized by poverty, instability, rapid population growth and environmental degradation. Four of the Nile riparian countries are among the world's ten poorest, with per capita incomes in the range of $100 to $200 per year. Population is expected to double within the next 25 years, placing additional strain on scarce water and other natural resources. It is interesting to note that only one other river basin--the Danube--is shared by more countries than the Nile, and the transboundary nature of the river poses complex challenges. Yet, the Nile holds significant opportunities for "win-win" development that could enhance food production, energy availability, transportation, industrial development, environmental conservation and other related development activities in the region.

The 1995 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that as a result of man's interventions in the biosphere, the climate of the earth will change considerably over the next 100 years, with major consequences for man in human health, agriculture, forests, coastal zones and species, "" natural areas. Intimately linked to all these are the "" in the distribution and quality of the earth's water ""ources.

One of the early regional projects in the Nile Basin was Hydromet, which was launched in 1967 with the support of the United Nations Development Programme, followed by the Technical Cooperation Committee for the Promotion of the Development and Environmental Protection of the Nile Basin, started in 1993 in effort to focus on a development agenda.

Also in 1993, the first in a series often Nile 2002 conferences commenced with the support of Canada. In 1998, recognizing that cooperative development holds the greatest prospects of bringing mutual benefits to the region, all riparian countries, except Eritrea, joined in a dialogue to create a regional partnership to facilitate the common pursuit of sustainable development and management of the Nile waters. The transitional mechanism was officially launched in February 1999.

The shared vision of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is: "To achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources." To translate the shared vision into action, the riparian has developed a strategic action programme that focuses on two complementary ideas: a shared vision and action on the ground. The ideas are mutually reinforcing. A common vision provides a framework for activities on the ground, and these activities in turn realize the vision. These ideas are being translated into actions through two complementary programmes: the basinwide Shared Vision Program (SVP),to create an "enabling environment" for cooperative action through building trust and skill; and the Subsidiary Action Programs (SAP), to plan and implement investments and activities "on the ground" at the lowest appropriate level, taking into account the benefits from and impacts of these activities in all riparian countries.

The first meeting of the International Consortium for Cooperation on the Nile took place in June 2001, to establish partnerships that will lead to sustainable development and management of the River Nile for the benefit of all. The meeting was a major milestone for the NBI and brought together for the first time Ministers and senior officials from the Nile Basin countries with a broad range of bilateral and multilateral donors and other interested parties, such as civil society, professional organizations, the media and non-governmental organizations. It also offered an avenue for raising and coordinating funding from a variety of sources. As a first step, around $140 million was raised to support both SVP and SAP programmes for the Basin.

The River Nile is truly the "river of life" that has revered the region since ancient times. The current regional and international commitments toward joint sustainable development in the Basin provide hope and promises for a better and prosperous future on the Nile.