The Nile is one of the great rivers of the world, feeding millions and giving birth to entire civilizations. It is one of the world's longest rivers, traversing about 6,695 kilometers from the farthest source of its headwaters of the Kagera Basin in Rwanda and Burundi through Lake Victoria, to its delta in Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. Its basin includes eleven African countries (Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, The Sudan, and Tanzania) and extends for more than three million square kilometers which represents about ten percent of Africa's land mass area. The basin includes world class environmental assets such as the Sudd wetland system in South Sudan.
Nile Basin countries are today home to more than 437 million people and of these, 54% (238 million) live within the basin and expect benefits from the management and utilization of the shared Nile Basin water resources.
Notwithstanding the basin's natural and environmental endowments and rich cultural history, its people face considerable challenges including persistent poverty with millions living on less than a dollar a day; extreme weather events associated with climate variability and change such as floods and droughts; low access to water and sanitation services; deteriorating water quality; and very low access rate to modern energy with most countries below 20% access level. The region also has a history of tensions and instability both between states and internal to states.
Despite these seemingly formidable challenges, the River Nile holds tremendous opportunities for growth being one of the least developed rivers in the world. Cooperative management and development could bring a vast range of benefits including increased hydropower and food production; better access to water for domestic use; improved management of watersheds and reduced environmental degradation; reduced pollution and more control over damage from floods and droughts. |
|
|
|
|
