Part 3: Reading the text g4 Task 4: Read the text below.


Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink?


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There is not much that links the people of Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt, except for one thing – the Nile. While these African countries encompass many different languages, cultures and religions, their inhabitants rely, whether directly or indirectly, to a greater or lesser extent, on this river’s water. Their ancestors thousands of years ago relied on the annual floods, which resulted in large harvests; the same is still true today. One of the major challenges for people living in the Nile Basin is that the flow of water changes very significantly throughout the year. The result of this is that the management of transboundary water is difficult, and something which is going to become more difficult in the future, according to the NGO Strategic Foresight.


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The grounds for this claim are that the Nile Basin is showing signs of changeable rainfall patterns. This has led to the annual rains becoming shorter and more intense. This is particularly problematic since the rains are too rapid, and damaging, for sustainable agricultural growth. There is some evidence from Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan that this can lead to harvests which are 50 per cent smaller. If this type of rainfall becomes the ‘new normal’, these countries will struggle to feed themselves, especially since the population in these countries is growing rapidly. Many are scared that these climate changes will result in so-called ‘water wars’, where battles will be fought over this increasingly precious resource.


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Conflicts over water are, however, nothing new. Nearly 5,000 years ago, the King of Lagash, a fertile town located between the Tigris and the Euphrates, became concerned about his city’s water security. As a result, he built canals around his territory, which resulted in a gradual reduction of water flowing to Umma (modern- day Iraq). Something similar has been happening in present-day China, which has been damming the Mekong River. The effects are not only felt in China, but in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In the Nile region, Ethiopia has indicated that it might build a hydropower facility on the Nile. This is something that no country downstream (especially Egypt) would accept lightly.


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One further issue is that temperatures across the Nile Basin will increase by between 1.5 and 2 degrees by 2050, which will result in the Nile region becoming arid or semi-arid. In its 2013 publication Blue Peace for the Nile, Strategic Foresight estimates that between 40 and 80 per cent of the territory in this region is under threat from desertification. Even the lower end of this estimate will lead to a significant reduction in the availability of agricultural land. Furthermore, the Nile Basin is suffering from land degradation on account of deforestation, urbanization and overgrazing.


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Any solutions to these issues have to be international. Climate and weather patterns do not recognize political borders. These issues are not something which might happen far off in the future: they are happening now, and they are affecting millions of people.


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