Using the Nile Basin as a microcosm of the whole African continent, Eltahir’s graduate students deeply researched each of the underlying issues he identified as plaguing the area. The workshop, organized by Eltahir and supported by both the MIT International Policy Lab and MIT CEE, was born of a semester-long seminar. The particular complexities of the Nile Basin were brought to light by presentations from each country’s representatives. He defined a complex problem as technologically difficult compounded by societal considerations. ![]() The complexity of the problem was acknowledged by Shafiqul Islam, director of the Water Diplomacy Program at Tufts University. The MIT workshop brought together three individuals each from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan: a water specialist, a social scientist, and a journalist. Egypt’s main demand in renegotiating any Nile Water deal is the maintenance of their current water usage of approximately 55.5 cubic kilometers, which is unpalatable to most of the other countries involved. Egypt is concerned GERD will restrict the amount of Nile Water reaching its people. As Ethiopia develops its infrastructure, it plans to harness the hydroelectric power of these waters with the GERD. It also suggests methods to improve conditions along the Nile Basin by confronting issues such as unsustainable population growth, climate change, and slow adoption of agricultural technology.Įighty-six percent of the Nile flows from Ethiopia. The new proposal calls for a sustainable, smart, equitable, and incremental approach toward resolving the Nile Water conflict. So we came down to the heart of the conflict: water security for Egypt … and development for Ethiopia,” he says.ĭuring the “The Future of the Nile Water” workshop on April 26 and 27, Eltahir outlined a proposal for a new agreement that addressed these major concerns. “That’s a symptom of a conflict but it’s not the heart of the conflict. The project has stirred fears of restricted flow to downstream Nile countries. When completed, it will be the largest dam in Africa and will hold about 70 cubic kilometers of water. Eltahir steered the direction of the meeting away from discussions of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the controversial hydroelectric dam being built in Ethiopia. Kerr Professor of Hydrology and Climate and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at MIT. “We reframed the problem,” says Elfatih A. In two days characterized by frankness, representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan acknowledged that a forward-looking resolution requires releasing the baggage of history and distrust. An international workshop at MIT proposed a new path toward resolving the seemingly intractable conflict over allocation of the Nile waters.
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