1. Ana Cascão Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) DANIDA Development Days 2011 Copenhagen, May 3 Cooperation over transboundary water resources in the Nile Basin: potential, obstacles and challenges

2. The Nile River Basin Complexity Asymmetries

3. Cooperation: possible and desired?

4. Cooperation = Maximising benefits

5. Cooperation in the Nile: Potential

6. Potential: Hydropower and Energy Security 7% 49% 22% 75% 69% 33% Percentage of technical and economic hydropower potential exploited World Atlas of Hydropower & Dams, 2003 Attractive World Bank, 2004

8. Potential: Hydropolitics/Politics

10. Obstacles to Cooperation Legal: Lack of overarching legal multilateral agreement and existence of contested past agreements Institutional: Delays in establishing a permanent Nile Basin Commission

11. since 1999 1997-2007 ?

12. Obstacles to Cooperation Political: Ongoing political cleavage between downstream and upstream riparians Structural: Current lack of regional ‘umbrella’ in the Nile region Perceptions: No full understanding of benefits of cooperation and costs of no-cooperation

13. CHALLENGES TO COOPERATION

14. Parallel realities: Unilateralism in spite of cooperation New Valley Project – Egypt Merowe Dam -Sudan Tekezze Dam - Ethiopia Millenium Dam – Ethiopia

15. The end of ‘traditional’ funding? NEW FRAMING Self-financing New business models New partners China, India, Gulf countries, ...

16. Land-Grabbing: transboundary impacts? Cotula et al., 2009

17. New geopolitical developments: ‘Revolutions’ in the making in the Nile Basin Velvet divorce in Sudan Popular uprising in Egypt

19. Thank you!