New project in the Blue Nile

This project, to be carried out between 2008 and 2012, will generate a better understanding of the agronomic, hydrological,

environmental and socio-economic impacts of improved land management along the Blue Nile. Furthermore, detailed insights will be gained on how upstream-downstream interdependencies can be institutionalised in order to guarantee sustainable, integrated water resources management.

This part of the Nile basin is uniquely placed for the study due to the fact that downstream demands for water are high and have strong, increasing trends; water resources generation upstream is heavily influenced by human interventions; East Africa is expected to be very sensitive to the impact of climate change.

The project is designed as four research components. The first two focus on evaluating soil and water conservation technologies and on upscaling the hydrological impacts of the soil and conservation technologies.

These two are essential in order to identify improved farming options. Evaluating the direct and indirect upstream and downstream costs and benefits of land use practices is a prior and necessary step to analysing the institutional arrangements along the Blue Nile within Ethiopia, as well as between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. Once all information is brought together, alternative designs for institutionalising water sharing practices and compensation flows can be developed.

The optimal sharing of river basins and optimisation of best practices can have a good impact on the lives of people living along the basin, but it also often brings tension to communitiesand integrated management of the entire basin.