NILE BASIN

Main informations
Location map
Name of Organization
Nile Basin Initiative
NBI
Administrative Address

Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat,
P. O. Box 192, Entebbe, Uganda

Phone
256-41-321424/321329/320971
E-Mail
 
Head of Organization
Mr. Audace Ndayizeye
Year Launched
1999
Contacts
Name Email Position
Tom Waako Baguma
twaako@nilebasin.org
Program Officer
Total Area
30400000km²
Length of River
6 700Km
Total Population
290million inhabitants
Total Rainfall

Mean Annual Rainfall over entire basin: 2,000 billion m3

Irrigated Agriculture

Over 5.5 million ha in Egypt and Sudan with potential to expand to
10.4 million ha. Planned expansion includes 387,000 ha in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya and 265,000 ha in Ethiopia. The other Riparian Countries have no irrigation potential and depend on rain-fed agriculture.

Rain-Fed Agriculture

Major means of food production

Website
Basin
Bassin du Nil
Geographical scope

This includes the whole Nile Basin comprising of all sub-basins and watercourse systems contained therein.

Riparian Countries
Countries Area
Burundi
13000km²
Dem Rep of Congo
21700km²
Egypt
273100km²
Eritrea
3500km²
Ethiopia
356900km²
Kenya
50900km²
Rwanda
20800km²
Sudan
1931300km²
Uganda
238900km²
Countries
 
Functions/Mandate

NBI is a multi-functional river basin organization whose main objectives are:
♦ Provision of a platform for co-operation and for building working
relationships between the Riparian Countries
♦ Provision of an arrangement by which to move forward from discussion to action
♦ Implementation of the “Strategic Action Program”

Organizational Structure

The committee of ministers from the Riparian Countries (Nile-COM) is the highest decisionmaking body of NBI. This is supported by the Technical Advisory Committee (NileTAC) composed of two senior officials from each country. The secretariat (NileSEC) provides administrative, financial and logistical support and services to Nile-COM and Nile-TAC. Nile-SEC is responsible for the coordination of the Shared Vision Program (SVP) working groups and Subsidiary Action Programs (SAP). A long-term partnership between riparian states and the international community is maintained by the International Consortium for Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON), a unique forum convened by the World Bank. ICCON ensures coordinated and transparent support for enhancing cooperative water resources development and management by implementing SVP and SAP projects in partnership with member states. This is supposed to contribute to strengthening the cooperation mechanism, long-term sustainable development, socioeconomic growth and regional integration.

Organizational Structure for Cooperation

This includes the cooperative structure and organs for river/lake basin organizations, national state representation, the rules that govern their internal relations and their interaction with nation states/administration and their mandate and authority. Such structures include colonial agreements now regarded as colonial impositions that need reviewing and existing agreements most of which do not provide for any monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. Recent agreements focus more on cooperation in sharing the water resources and in promoting socioeconomic development in the basin. International law on water, in dire need of a review, is poorly developed and only concerns itself with rights and responsibilities of states.

Management Plans and Action Programs

The NBI plans to implement projects, in partnership with member states, that will contribute to strengthening the cooperation mechanism and to long-term sustainable development, economic growth and regional integration. This will be achieved through the implementation of two complementary sub-programs: The Shared Vision Program (SVP) and the Subsidiary Action Program (SAP). The SVP will contribute in the creation of an enabling environment for investments and action on the ground and will promote the shared vision through a set of effective basin-wide activities. The Shared Vision Projects will be Power Forum, Water Resources Management, Environment, Agriculture, Applied Training, Benefit Sharing and Communications with the Project Management Units in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda and the Nile-SEC HQ respectively. An initial set of seven basin-wide SVP projects has been endorsed by NileCOM and their project documents prepared. They include: environmental action, power trade, efficient water use for agriculture, water resources planning and management, communications, applied training, and socio-economic development and benefit sharing. SAP plan and implement action on the ground at the lowest appropriate level. They will comprise actual development projects at sub-basin level, involving two or more countries in order to address the challenges of regional co-operation and development opportunities with transboundary implications. Two groups of countries have been formed to investigate the development of investment projects on the Nile Basin. These are the Eastern Nile Group (ENSAP), which includes Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia; and the Nile Equatorial Lakes Group (NELSAP) comprising Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Monitoring and Information Systems

Information is formally provided to the member states and other stakeholders through the secretariat and the organization website. Regular meetings of the committees, conferences and workshops at different levels result in new policy formulations and modifications of existing and planned measures that are made available to stakeholders by the secretariat and/or website.

Rules on Decision-Making and Procedure for Dispute Resolution

The Nile-COM in consultation with Nile-TAC is the sole decision-making organ. Disputes, if they occur, are referred to the COM and TAC committees who work out solutions mutually acceptable to the parties involved. In case such solutions do not work the aggrieved parties may be referred to international arbitrators in water conflict resolution and transboundary waters such as Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP).

Financing of cooperation structures

NBI is supported by contribution from the NBI countries themselves and through the generous support of several multilateral and bilateral donors. The funds so raised are managed through a World-Bank managed Nile Basin Trust Fund (NBTF). At the basin-wide level NBTF funds support the implementation of the projects within SVP, strengthening of NBI institutional capacity and facilitating the process of NBI dialogue and engagement. At the sub-basin level, NBTF funds support the preparation and implementation of investment projects, building capacity for regional coordination and preparation of joint projects and providing advisory services and support to sub-regional institutions.

Stakeholder Participation

Stakeholder participation into the NBI activities is ensured through the Nile Basin Discourse (NBD), a network of civil society organizations from the ten countries of the Nile basin. The network seeks positive influence over the development of projects and programs under NBI and other Nile-related programs. The overall objective of NBD is to promote sustainable and equitable development, poverty reduction, and cooperation between all stakeholders in the Nile Basin. NBD is continuously getting more engaged in NBI activities and in so doing bringing the voices of the voiceless into the heart of this key inter-governmental process. Website: www.nilebasindiscourse.org

Historical Record of Cooperation

After successful implementation of the TECCONILE project, the Nile countries ministers in charge of water affairs agreed to expand the mandate of TECCONILE and therefore launched a new transitional institutional mechanism under the name Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), in February 1999. This is considered to be a transitional arrangement until a permanent legal framework is put in place. The NBI member states are Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Date Treaty name Signatories Basin
1891-04-16
Boundary Protocol
Italy
Great Britain
Nil basin
1902-03-18
Exchange Notes
Great Britain
Ethiopia
Nil basin
1902-05-05
Frontier Agreement
Great Britain
Etiopia
Nil basin
1902-05-15
Frontier Agreement
Great Britain
Ethiopia
Nil basin
1906-05-09
Sphere of Influece Agreement
Congo
Great Britain
Nil basin
1906-12-13
Abyssinia Agreement
France
Great Britain
Italy
Nil basin
1925-12-20
Exchange of Notes
Great Britain
Italy
-
1929-05-07
Exchange of notes
Egypt
Great Britain
Nil basin
1934-11-22
Water Rights Agreement
Belgium
Great Britain
Nil basin
1946-12-07
Profits Utilization
Egypt
Great Britain
Nil basin
1949-05-31
Owen Falls Agreement
Egypt
Great Britain
Northern Ireland
Nil basin
1949-12-05
Owen Falls Agreement
Egypt
Great Britain
Nil basin
1949-09-29
Boundary Agreement
Ethiopia
Great Britain
Northern Ireland
Nil basin
1950-01-19
Cooperation Agreement
Egypt
Great Britain
Nil basin
1950-04-08
Tripartite Committee Protocol
Belgium
France
Luxembourg
Nil basin
1952-07-16
Owen Falls Agreement
Egypt
Great Britain
Northen Ireland
Nil basin
1959-11-08
Water Utilization Agreement
Sudan
United Arab Republic
Nil basin
1960-01-17
Permanent Technical Committee
Sudan
United Arab Republic
Nil basin
1977-08-24
Kagera River Basin Agreement
Burundi
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
-
1981-05-18
Huganda Accession
Burundi
Rwanda
-
1993-01-01
Establishment of TECCONILE
Egypt
Sudan
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
Zaïre
Nil basin
1993-07-01
Cooperation Framework
Egypt
Ethiopia
Nil basin
1994-08-05
Environmental Management Agreement
Kenya
Tanzania
Uganda
-
1999-02-01
Expansion of TECCONILE-NBI
Burundi
DRC
Egypt
Ethiopia
Kenya
Rwanda
Sudan
Tanzania
Uganda
Nil basin
Challenges