Towards Transboundary Water Management Policy Regime in the Eastern Nile Basin for Sustainable Water Use and Conservation

Abstract

This article aims at exploring the need for a sustainable transboundary water management policy regime in the Eastern Nile Basin. It tries to show factors that necessitated the path toward a transboundary policy regime in the Eastern Nile Basin. It also attempts to explain the deficiency of the existing unilateral water management policy regimes, which neither address the issues of sustainable utilization and conservation of the Nile water resources nor the water management issues at the transboundary level. The study employed a qualitative research approach and data were collected through key informant interviews. Different secondary sources of water issues that are transnational are also consulted. The data were analyzed based on thematic analysis method. The key finding of this research indicates that the existing water resource management policy regimes are inadequate, and that there is a clear void in the policy regime hampering sustainable utilization and management of the shared Nile waters among riparian countries. The article finally suggests pathways for replacing the existing Nile water management policy regimes and establishing comprehensive sub-basin-wide policy regimes in the Eastern Nile Basin. A new pathway should satisfy the water needs of the ever-increasing populations and the ever-expanding development requirements in each of the riparian countries through collaboration that enables the countries to deal with the common challenges that are otherwise difficult to address.