By Ayele Teklemariam
Ever since I read the article I have been aching to do some study and an expose if i could because the issue runs down every Ethiopian Sudanese and Egyptian blood like the river niles water that runs in every citizen of those three countries and those concerned friends of the people mentioned. Normalcy in all parts of those countries peace and prosperity in those countries are a precondition to the normal flow of the nile’s waters as is the blood flows in the veins of the citizens of those countries. Like all revers of the world simple natural processes and human factors are negatively affected and arenas will continuously affect the health of the Nile bar any one party or all parties intentional or inadvertent creation of instability in any parts of the natural social and environmental ecosystem of the river.
As have been proven time and again in almost all places where such river basins are shared and transitional river flows are prevalent, a social, political or other disturbances to the upper river basins are often carriers of malaise of shortage disease and curse for the nations in the lower river lands. It is perhaps a thermodynamic reality that every thing that flows flows from a higher to a lower elevation can do work and that could often be good work or bad, and whatever happens up the flow some how gets carried down the line and in a more roles cumulative ways that whatever happens up the line as well could often have a tendency of being magnified just like the size of the water flow.
Considering the afore mentioned logic it is rather those living in the lower regions of the river’s flow who ought be concerned more about the health and well being of the upper river basin for everything that happens in the upper annals reaches them magnified many folds. if they do good they are bound to get it magnified many folds and if they do bad that too gets to them magnified equally.
The concerns of the water level’s decrease in the lower lands is as equally concerting to the people in the upper level as there are natural and human factors both with in their powers and without, global warming and Eastward push of the Sahara , The northward and westward push of the Danakil deserts are phenomena’s that may not be fully controlled yet could be retarded by phenomenal human united efforts that could lead to alleviation or retardation of the scare of reduced water levels both in the upper regions and lower regions. Water scarcity and drought and desertion are not challenges that could be alleviated by regional, national and local squables rather they are grand in scope and scale that require and need common regional national and international cooperation and coordinated actions . Perhaps if all the energy, money and time spent in efforts to guarantee and secure a resources that Mother Nature simply keeps on reducing as long as a proper care of it is not taken in to account is a waist of human time and energy better spent at finding an alternative. Necessity coupled with opportunity is the mother of invention, with out a doubt there are needs and there are opportunities to be inventive to fulfill the arisen needs . The sciences are clear and the opportunities are right before our eyes for the taking for those who are not bent on being on the path to destroy and self destruct. The long standing zero sum political national and international game has gotten us to the sorry state we global citizen find ourselves in that it is time for all to call it for what it is and say enough and it is truly enough!.
A stable prosperous upper region community and lower region communities that will work in he preservation and protection of the river basins eco system instead of infighting intra-fighting is a better a cheeper and civilized guarantee to the ever flow of the water down the banks is is perhaps a crystal ball hidden behind curtain that ought be unveiled.
Yes for the naive observer to see a body of water barricaded behind a dam is intimidating and perhaps scary, but what should be scary is the deforested barren mountains of the highland that could not provide the small streams that fead to the river’s flow unless reforested where stripped of their threes and are protected where they still stand. Yes the dam barrier could be filled by a single or a few torrent in a season or two or even few more that could have run down the valley and ended up at the Mediterranean, but could hardly guarantee the normal steady flow that humanity of the basin could maximize its utility. The science seems uncompromisingly clear as to the correlation between deforestation drought and socio political and economic stability that i need say much but remind the lower basin people to focus their worries where their mouth is and turn their focus where the real enemy is and the real prospects are.
Their focus ought not be the building of a dam or a thousands dams up the river that could be filled by torrents of rain that causes wasteful and even dangerous floods, but the overall health of the river basin, that correlates with the health and stability their upper level basin friends and brothers. Be mindful that it is the plague that strike the upper river basins that could get carried down the river and you can not secure your water interests by spreading plague up the river but by fighting it out with them and be afraid of the dam of bad will you build with the people up the riverbed playing the same old refuted zero sum game than the water dam they build for the latter is what is going to deprive you as all zero sum games had done over and again.
ref:
https://bluepeaceindex.eiu.com/#/
Continuum @ Cybernatian 