Eastern Nile Watershed Management Studies

The Nile Basin plays a critical role in the development of the riparian countries, particularly in the development of key economic infrastructure such as irrigation schemes and hydropower dams. Irrigated agriculture, fisheries and livestock are the dominant economic activities along the Nile basin; it also supports the livelihoods of more than 160 million people who are involved in rain-fed agriculture mainly in Ethiopia and Sudan. The Nile Basin and the River Nile itself however, are under serious threat from land degradation and related environmental challenges. The main causes of land degradation are the clearing of forests, woodlands, and wetlands for large-scale and smallholder agriculture, overgrazing of rangelands, the use of inappropriate agricultural and grazing practices and over-exploitation of forests and woodlands for fuelwood and charcoal. These factors integrated with other socio-economic and cultural factors lead to soil erosion, high rates of runoff, soil fertility decline, low productivity, flash flooding, water shortages and high sediment discharge. These in turn have serious implications for agricultural productivity, water availability and quality, sedimentation and biodiversity conservation.