BY YOHANES JEMANEH
Aside from time, finance and knowledge investment, utilizing natural resources needs mutual trust and cooperation of all pertinent bodies. Collaboration is more essential especially to exploit transboundary natural resources like rivers and others. It was in this ambition that 10 Nile basin riparian countries established the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in 1991 to lend hands to unleash the world’s longest river for mutual benefit. They had also signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) in 2010 following a decade-long negotiation process.
From the very beginning, NBI was organized by the founding member states that it would serve as a transitional arrangement until the permanent Nile river building comes into existence on the base of a legal framework agreement for establishment we the member states mandated NBI to promote basin-wide trust and confidence build water source management capacities on one hand and demonstrate action on the ground by speeding up water source investment through subsidiary action programs on the other, stated Habtamu Itefa (Ph.D), Water and Energy Minister, in the one-day Nile Basin countries’ ministerial meeting that was recently held in Tanzania.
The transitional nature of NBI should constantly remind NBI member states of the truth that for transboundary cooperation to be sustainable, there needs to be legal foundation and arrangement by which all member states abide and are governed. “For over two decades now, we exerted collective effort to put our cooperation with the robust legal foundation. I recall that we have successfully concluded the negotiations and that four NBI member states have already ratified the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) as a national law,” Habtamu said.
The task of completing this process to bring the number of ratifying countries to the required level is ongoing and needs to be finalized after which the CFA will come into force thus enabling NBA to transition into a permanent commission as was initially emphasized.
The cooperative framework agreement gratification process needs to be emphasized so that strategic and transformative business development in the management process which NBI is a transition mechanism cannot undertake now would be accomplished. The ratification of CFA is still a priority for member states of the NBI and that effort to accomplish this is still being exerted, according to Habtamu.
Though there might be an interpretation of NBI due to it is transitional nature for example as of now is not mandated and cannot formulate policies or undertake such programs that are binding on the constraint the member states. It is imperative to strengthen cooperation so that the river owns the long-awaited yet barely accomplished investment agenda of NBI.
Nile Basin Upper Riparian Countries cooperation meeting on Equitable and Reasonable Utilization of Nile Water Resources was also held in Addis Ababa on 7 September 2022. On the occasion, Foreign Affairs State Minister Ambassador Tesfaye Yilma expressed that the discussions would eventually result in useful policy recommendations that would support ensuring fair and acceptable usage of the Nile.
The State Minister noted that everyone’s commitment throughout the conference and the important results provided proved that the conference had in fact accomplished its expected objectives.
The participants unequivocally underscored that the Nile River should be used by all of us in a fair, reasonable, and equitable manner, attesting to the very fact that the river is a shared water resource that ties us together, Ambassador Tesfaye said. Encouraging the Pan-African brotherhood displayed during the conference, he noted that it is only natural that all those residing in the basin use the resource in a fair, equitable, and reasonable manner.
In the same vein, Ambassador Tesfaye stressed that Ethiopia has made consistent efforts over the past decades in cooperation with other riparian countries to establish a basin-wide water governance arrangement. He urged basin countries to expedite the CFA ratification process. The State Minister firmly highlighted that Ethiopia is still dedicated to resolving disagreements over the Nile River’s utilization by looking for African solutions to African challenges.
On the occasion, Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, called on all the Nile Basin riparian states to expedite the coming into force of the Cooperative Framework Agreement. The CFA outlines principles, rights and obligations for cooperative management and development of the Nile Basin water resources.
The Nile River, which supplies livelihood to millions of people who live along its banks in Ethiopia alone, and accounts for two-thirds of the country’s surface water, Demeke said. However, Nile River is confronted with both man-made and natural issues that affect sustainable use of the river, exacerbate water stress in the region, and cause tensions over the utilization of the available water.
Explaining the issues preventing the sustainable use of the Nile River, Demeke added that “on the one hand, threatened by the ever-increasing water demand due to population growth, environmental degradation, and climate change, among other things.” Furthermore, the tendency to assert hegemony over the shared water resource, on the other hand, continues to be a barrier to the equitable and sensible utilization of the Nile waters, Demeke emphasized.
He recalled the actions taken by the upper riparian nations on the Nile in the past years, saying that riparian states have sought to address these challenges and have made modest strides to conserve the shared resource while trying to ensure fairness in its utilization. “Unfortunately, a pure development project with clear targets for clean energy production has been subjected to undue politicization and pressure, even though it does not entail any significant harm to any riparian country. This is yet another indication of why we need to expedite the setting up of a basin-wide legal and institutional framework,” Demeke said.
It is to be recalled that Nile Basin Council of Ministers during the summit held in August in Tanzania approved the first-ever Nile River Basin Management Plan aimed at guiding the planning and implementation of water resources management and development interventions in the Nile River Basin at national, sub-regional, and regional levels.
The meeting also witnessed the change in leadership of the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers with Tanzania’s Minister of Water, Jumaa H. Aweso, taking over from South Sudan’s deceased country’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Peter Gatkuoth Manawa.
In his remarks, Hon. Aweso said that since it was founded
For NBI Secretariat Executive Director, Eng. Sylvester Matemu, cooperation is at the heart of what NBI does and this is in recognition of the immense benefits that cooperation yields to riparian citizens. One key benefit to cooperation is the effective and efficient utilization of common Nile Basin water resources. Nile Basin countries have been able to share the costs and benefits of transboundary water resource management, taking advantage of the economies of scale.
As one of the founding members of NBI, Ethiopia has been exerting utmost efforts for equitable utilization of the Nile waters. It has been also urging riparian countries to expedite the ratification of the CFA while elaborating the significance of cooperation.
The key benefits and drivers of cooperation between the basin countries include energy generation for the region, regional power market, water storage and conservation; and national capacity, said Engineer Gedion Asfaw, Chair of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) Technical Negotiating Team.
Basin-wide countries have numerous areas of possible cooperation including the equitable and reasonable utilization of the Nile water resources. These nations must work together on equitable utilization, environmental protection and other issues of mutual concern. By doing so, the nations will boost their benefit from the natural resources like the Nile and suitable weather among others. Therefore all riparian countries must shortly sign the CFA and expedite its implementation for common good.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2022
