Experts from the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Member States met recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of a process to develop a common understanding of the health of the Nile Basin, identify opportunities and agree on collective actions to address emerging challenges. The process, which will include consultations with relevant stakeholders at both regional and national level, as well as review, validation and finalization workshops, will result in the State of the River Nile Basin Report 2018.
This report is a key resource for joint monitoring and management of the health of the River Nile and associated natural resources. It will as such inform decision making and provide a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the past policies and the health of the Basin over time.
Participants who included members of the Nile Technical Advisory Committee as well as experts on environment and water from the Member States, spent two days from August 18 – 19, 2018 to further refine and enrich the sets of proposed indicators for monitoring and reporting on the state of the Nile Basin, under each of the themes addressed by this issue of the State of the River Nile Basin Report 2018 namely; Water Security, Energy Security, Food Security and Agricultural Development, Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change, as well as Transboundary Water Governance.
This is in addition to ensuring well represented ‘authenticated’ facts and figures about the Nile Basin countries, synergy and compatibility of indicators with the relevant regional programs as well as Member States’ reporting requirements and expectations are incorporated. Participants also discussed the communication and stakeholder engagement approach to support the development and dissemination of the report.
Preparation of the State of the River Nile Basin Report 2018, which will be the second one to be published by NBI, is with support from GIZ, on behalf of the European Union and the German Federal Government.
The inaugural report was published in 2012 and provides information on the general health of the Nile Basin, River Nile and its tributaries and raises awareness on the biophysical, socio-cultural and economic conditions within the Basin. It also highlights development hot spots and hope spots and emphasises that cooperation amongst the riparian states is crucial for solving the Basin's multiple environmental and socio-economic challenges as well as achieving sustainable development basin wide.
Read the State of the River Nile Basin Report 2012: http://sob.nilebasin.org/