Institutional arrangements for beneficial regional cooperation on water, energy and food priority issues in the Eastern Nile Basin

• Published in: Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) 2018-07, Vol.562, p.821-831
• Main Authors: Al-Saidi, Mohammad, Hefny, Amr
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Eastern Nile Basin; Regional water cooperation; Transboundary water governance; Water diplomacy; Water–energy–food nexus
• ISSN: 0022-1694; 1879-2707
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.05.009

•There is a need to expand the cooperation issues in the Easter Nile basin.•WEF Nexus concept and a regional perspective help improve mutual gains and address emerging topics.•An understanding of river basins as resource basins approximates the WEF Nexus idea.•Trade, technical cooperation, agricultural technologies are some prioritized topics for cooperation.•Institutional complexity level and geopolitics determine the integration or cooperation model. Research on water cooperation in the Eastern Nile Basin has focused on expanding policy and diplomacy tools for a better allocation of transboundary water resources confined to the river. Regional cooperation on water and related sectors such as energy and land expands the bargaining and areas for mutual gain, and thus enhances cooperation perspectives. This paper looks at the contribution and the potential benefits of a regional cooperation approach to addressing the underlying challenges of water diplomacy, such as complexity and distrust. It also promotes the understanding of river basins as a “resource basin” of integrated and linked resource-use issues, not always related to the river flow. The paper provides an analysis of priority issues for water–energy–food nexus in regional cooperation in the Eastern Nile Basin. This basin represents an illustrative case for regional cooperation and increased integration due to multiple comparative advantages inherent in the uneven endowments of water, energy and arable land resources, and to varying levels of economic and technological advancement among the three riparian countries: Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. The paper also analyzes institutional arrangements on a regional scale, and elaborates on the inherent trade-offs associated with them.