10 October 2011
Dundee to play role in promoting Nile region peace
The University of Dundee's UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science has been asked to participate in high-level discussions aimed at re-starting stalled talks on the Nile basin treaty and preventing water wars in the region.
Professor Patricia Wouters, Director of the Centre, will head to Kigali in Rwanda later this month to address the 3rd Nile Basin Development Forum, a conference aimed at promoting co-operation between the 10 countries that the world’s longest river passes through, as leaders seek to mitigate the impact of climate change.
There is a long and complex history of hydropolitics in the region, and conflict has been threatened over access to the Nile’s water on several occasions. Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia are particularly strained, and negotiations to secure a new treaty on access and co-operation have ended in stalemate.
Politicians, policy makers, academics and other stakeholders will take part in the Forum. Professor Wouters will bring Dundee’s expertise in international water law to the table when she appears at the NBDF, which this year is entitled, ‘Climate Change and its Implications for Sustainable Development and Cooperation in the Nile Basin’, on Thursday, 27th October.
She will deliver the keynote address on ‘Coping by co-operation’ and promote the benefits of building confidence and trust among countries of the Nile Basin. This would be done through the participation of a broader range of stakeholders including government, international and regional academics, the private sector, civil society and NGOs, local water users and external funding agencies.
Professor Wouters said that millions of people’s lives were affected by hydropolitics in the region, and that it was vital that peaceful resolutions can be found to the challenges facing the countries that rely on the Nile’s resources.
'Dundee is well placed to contribute to assisting with the peaceful management of the Nile,' she said. 'The agreement that the Nile riparian states have negotiated has been signed up to by only six countries, and appears to be at an impasse. How can we reinvigorate the process and go forward?
'Our work on dynamic cooperation provides some insights on how nation states can engage in managing their shared international freshwaters. The Nile basin is home to millions of people across Africa, including some of the most poor. Economic development must be shared across the basin in ways that ensure 'water for all'; the Cooperative Framework Agreement provides a vehicle for achieving this.'
'I look forward to this engagement on the Nile and will be trying to share the knowledge we have developed in Dundee to contribute in a positive way.'
The objectives of the NBDF are:
- To raise awareness of the benefits of cooperative development of the Nile Basin.
- To provide a forum for open discussion of NBI projects and initiatives.
- To introduce new ideas, share knowledge and best practices.
By the end of the event, policy makers and other key stakeholders will be informed on transboundary dimensions of climate change impacts and enhanced opportunities for regional cooperation through transboundary climate change adaptation strategies will have been identified.
A greater sense of collective responsibility and custodianship regarding the Nile will be promoted and, it is hoped, moves will be made towards achieving new treaties on use of the Nile resources.
Notes to editors:
The UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science operates under the auspices of UNESCO and forms part of Postgraduate School of Management and Policy at the University of Dundee.
The Centre is the world’s only UNESCO Centre combining water law, policy and science; its multidisciplinary approach ensures that it is able to draw upon the full range of academic and practical expertise needed to affect real benefits for real rivers.
As part of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme, the Centre is establishing a global network of basins to improve the links between hydrology and the needs of society. The Centre is committed to local capacity building and an empowerment agenda; it is focussing its teaching resources on developing the next generation of global water leaders through its Water Law Water Leaders flexible educational programmes.
It was recently announced that Professor Wouters has been appointed Professor of International Water law at Xiamen law School in China. She will undertake this role in addition to her post at Dundee, and will help to educate the next generation of water leaders in the country under the Chinese Government's 'One-Thousand Talents' scheme.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
