The Nile Conundrum:
Harnessing our vast water & agricultural potential
The Resource Base
Ethiopia has 12 River Basins with estimated surface water resources potential of 123 billion cubic meters (bm3) (Abbay, Baro-Akobo, Tekeze and Omo Ghibe contribute 80% -90%)
Ethiopia has 11 freshwater and 9 saline lakes, four crater lakes and over 12 major swamps and wetlands with a surface area of about 7,500km2. Ground Water Resources estimated to 26 bm3? Total potential of Irrigable land 5.3 million hectares, Hydropower Potential > 45, 000 MW. Ethiopia is the Water Tower of North East Africa
“The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water.” Anwar Sadat, 1979.
“The next war in our region will be over water, not politics” Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Fierce competition for fresh water may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future., but the water problems of our world need not be only a cause of tension; they can also be a catalyst for cooperation. … If we work together, a secure and sustainable water future can be ours –Kofi Annan, 2001-2002
“Just in the case of all other natural resources on its territories, Ethiopia has the right and obligations to exploit the water resources of the Empire…for the benefit of the present and future generations of its citizens…in anticipation of the growth in population and expanding needs. The Imperial Ethiopian Government…reasserts and reserves now and for the future, the right to take all such measures in respect of its water resources,…namely those waters providing so nearly the entirety of the volume of the Nile”
HM Emperor Haile Sellasse I
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