In this issue - Nile Basin Initiative

Transcription

VOLUME 3
ISSUE
05
A Quarterly
Newsletter
of the Eastern
Nile Technical
Regional Office
(ENTRO)
Nile-Flow
MARCH 2015
In this issue
Editorial
News and Events
Concepts that Matter
Conversations
Staff News
Did you know...?
Eastern Nile Environment at a Glance
Highlight
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6
20
24
27
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29
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We work for the Shared Benefits of Cooperation
!‫ﻭﻧﺤﻦ ﻧﻌﻤﻞ ﻣﻦ ﺃﺟﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺎﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺘﺮﻛﺔ ﻟﻠﺘﻌﺎﻭﻥ‬
ለጋራ ብልፅግና እንተጋለን!
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Editorial
5
News and Events
6
Contents
Editorial
5
News and Events
6
20
Conversations
24
Staff News
27
Did you know...?
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Eastern Nile Environment at a Glance
29
Highlight
29
Editorial Committee:
What is in a name?
Wubalem Fekade (phd)
Awoke kassa
Selamawit Haile
Akewak Yadeta
We have chosen
“Nile -Flow” as the name of our
Newsletter.
Contacts:
Flow –
the flow of our great river, running
through the three sisterly Eastern
Nile Subsidiary Action Program
(ENSAP) Countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Republic of South Sudan and
the Sudan; connecting the people,
their cultures, their histories and
shared destinies since time immemorial.
Eastern Nile Technical
Regional Office
Dessie Road
P 27173-1000
T +251 116 46 1130/32
F +251 116 45 94 07
E entro@nilebasin.org
I http://ensap.nilebasin.org
Production: Dscope PLC
T +251 911 69 25 89
About ENTRO
Established in March 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ENTRO is the
executive arm of ENSAP. ENTRO’s
mandate includes: (a) preparing cooperative water resources investment programs and projects and
(b) providing secretariat support to
ENCOM, the Eastern Nile Council
of Ministers of Water Resources, the
highest governance and decision
making body of ENSAP.
Nile – Our great river.
The Editorial Committee encourages editorial contributions from
readers.
Please send your contributions
to the editor in Chief, Wubalem
Fekade (PhD) at: wfekade@nilebasin.org
Cover photo
Herd of elephants in Boma
National Park (Photo courtesy:
Wildlife Conservation Society)
Flow –
in the psychological sense also
symbolizes a feeling of energized
focus, of total engagment, and
succes in the activity being undertaken– i.e in the ENSAP cooperation process we are all engaged in.
Thus the twin message: a description of reality, on the one hand, and
a statement of hope, vision and
purpose on the other.
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Blue Nile Gorge (Photo Courtesy: Venturepress.dk)
Nile-Flow
News and Events
Editorial
A Statement is made!!
The 28th ENCOM (Eastern Nile Council of Ministers), the highest decision and governing
body of the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action program (ENSAP) and of ENTRO (Eastern Nile
Technical Regional Office) Meeting took place on February 12, 2015 in Kuriftu Resort, Debrezeit, Ethiopia. The ENCOM Meeting was preceded by a two-day 29th ENSAPT (Eastern
Nile Subsidiary Action Program Team) Meeting. ENSAPT is the technical advisory body of
ENCOM.
The 28th ENCOM Meeting demonstrated to the NBI family and to the world at large, the resolve and commitment of those countries still in the Eastern Nile cooperation orbit i.e. Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan, to sustain the cooperation momentum and keep their common
institution, ENTRO no matter the financial and other challenges it may bring forth to the countries. At the Meeting the Ministers agreed to make a one-time contribution of USD 454,000 to
cover ENTRO’s budget deficit for 2015 which arose from the fact that most of the funds the
World Bank has been managing – the Nile Basin Trust Fund in particular, are closing.
The payment is over and above their annually growing country contribution to ENTRO. This,
in a nutshell, is a statement to the NBI fraternity and the wider development partner community at large that ENSAP and ENTRO are here to stay; that Eastern Nile cooperation is not
a matter of convenience but an existential necessity! These mΩzzeasures indicate that many
stakeholders are internalizing the fact that there are certain things we cannot change – such
as the fact that Eastern Nile countries, including Egypt, are tied by the Nile- and therefore are
tied thru a common destiny that is unfolding. In many ways geography is destiny. Hydrology
is destiny. We cannot change these facts. But there are other things we can change. We
can change how we relate to each other through this common resource called
the Nile. We can change how good or bad; smart or less smart neighbors we
Eastern Nile cooperation could be. Eastern Nile water resources can be and should be entry points and
catalysts for broader regional integration that will enable the countries to haris not a matter of
ness the huge potential the basin harbors. Unless we think big and long-term
convenience but an
and act fast, the anticipated threatening Climate Change impact will catch us
all unprepared, with severe, multifaceted consequences for our peoples, for our
existential necessity!
ecosystem and for our future.
“
“
With such backing and commitment as we have from our governance, we here at ENTRO shall
stay stead fast to our Mission and shall keep working “for the shared benefits of Cooperation!!”
This issue of Nile flow contains an update of what ENTRO has been doing lately. We have included interview of our incoming Executive Director, Ato Fekahmed Negash. Three colleagues
have left us in 2014. Mr. Tesfaye Gudeta, one of the earliest members of ENTRO who was
Senior Accountant, died suddenly, shocking us all. Dr. Salah Shazali, who worked in various
capacities, including as the first social development officer and Senior Operation Officer for
the ISP and NCORE projects and Dr. Yosif Ibrahim, who was heading the Water Resources
Planning Unit and also served as Officer in Charge for over three years – both resigned for
personal reasons. All will be missed. We plan to “download” the invaluable tacit knowledge of
these two colleagues in our forthcoming Nile Flow Issue “Conversations” Section.
Wubalem Fekade, Ph.D.
Head, Social Development and Communication
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Nile-Flow
News and Events
National Training on application of
GIS & RS tools for watershed
planning and management
A resource person with extensive experience was recruited to facilitate the training. A training manual was
also prepared and distributed to the participants. 20
participants attended the training.
14th-23rd September 2014, Wedi-Medeni, Sudan
Compiled by Awoke Kassa, M&E officer
From the 14th to the 23rd September 2014, ENTRO
held the National Training on application of GIS &
RS tools for watershed planning and management in
Wedi-Medeni, Sudan. The training workshop on application of GIS and RS tools and techniques intends to
enhance the technical capacity of project staff as well
as partner institutions involved in watershed management to undertake effective planning, management &
monitoring of watershed management practices.
The specific objectives of the training include: to
train key project staff and partner institutions in the
application of GIS and RS tools in planning and
management of watershed projects so that they can
train and support other staff and stakeholders on
GIS & RS applications; and to prepare a comprehensive training manual on application of GIS and
RS for immediate use by the trainees
- The training workshop was designed in order to
achieve the following:
A workshop on Communication for
Effective Cooperation in Eastern Nile
22nd to 24th September 2014, Nazareth, Ethiopia
Journalists, media experts and a number of other
participants from Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan
took part in a 3-day workshop organized by ENTRO.
The workshop focused on updating media professionals about the latest progress and activities in
ENSAP and NBI; providing hands on training-cumawareness about how Nile Basin cooperation is
sensationalized by international media, while the EN
media professionals themselves, provide very limited
substantive coverage to actual cooperation happening within NB countries; and the role of the media
and communicators. Conclusions from the workshop point out that this kind of workshop will help
the media groups and communication experts enhance their understanding on challenges and opportunities of water and related resources in the Eastern Nile, facilitate networking among different media
people in the EN and the role of the Eastern media
and communicators as information multipliers is paramount to public advocacy and awareness-raising.
The workshop brought together 45 communicators,
Media professionals, journalists, and representatives from Water & Irrigation Ministry, ENTRO staff,
Interns, consultants and Nile SEC staff represented
by the head of Water Resources Management department and Communication Specialist.
- Refresh the knowledge of participants on the basics of RS and GIS techniques.
- Provide hands-on exercises on the use of GIS for
land use mapping analysis,
- Learn how to use satellite and ground observation
data for land use change detection and watershed
assessment and monitoring,
- Provide hands-on experience on catchment delineation with RS data in a given watershed, and
- Provide hands-on exercises on the use of GIS for
catchment hydrology.
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By Akewak Yadeta, communication expert
News and Events
ENTRO takes part in the 4th Nile
Basin Development Forum
October 6-7, 2014, Nairobi, Kenya
The Fourth Nile Basin Development Forum held in
Nairobi on October 6-7, 2014 on the theme, “Building Sustainable Trans-boundary Cooperation in a
Complex River Basin: Challenges, Lessons and
Prospects”. ENTRO was a member of the Organizing Committee of the Conference from the very start,
nearly a year ahead of the event. ENTRO contributed to the conference at various stages, from theme
selection, sessions formulation, paper selection and
overall logistics and organization. ENTRO staff’s
were also panelists in the conference. ENTRO took
part in the heavily attended biannual forum, taking
part in poster presentations. ENTRO participated in
putting together results from deliberations of the 12
sessions of the conference and produce a Declaration of the Conference, which was accomplished
and the result distributed to the media and posted
on the NBI website.
ENWSM Knowledge Exchange Visit
to the Loess Plateau, China
21st- 30th October 2014
Representatives from Ethiopia, South Sudan and
Sudan exchanged experiences in the 12 day visit
to the Loess Plateau, China. A field visit event was
organised at the Loess Plateau, China where watershed projects are ongoing and shared their results
and lessons learned.
The main purpose of organizing experience exchange visits is to document experiences of participatory watershed management in the countries
to be visited and draw lessons which will be useful and applicable to the development of integrated
watershed management interventions. Experience
exchange visits will provide a forum to discuss on
project implementation modalities and contribute
multi-disciplinary perspectives on approaches and
thereby ensure performance of project implementation and sustainability of outputs. Such exchange
of knowledge will also serve as a forum for capacity and confidence building by enabling interaction
among professionals of the basin.
Knowledge and experience exchange tour will enhance the technical capacity of institutions involved
in watershed management to undertake effective
planning, monitoring & evaluation of watershed
management interventions and thereby strengthen
the role and capacity of national institutions in the
development of pro-poor investments and services
to promote productive and environmentally sound
livelihoods with local community participation. In
line with the above general objective, the main purpose of organizing this study tour was to document
experiences in rehabilitation of watersheds and
Rainwater Harvesting in China’s Loess plateau and
draw lessons applicable to the development of integrated watershed management interventions in the
Eastern Nile context. The International study visit
was intended to complement a range of capacity
building activities being organized by ENTRO at regional and national levels.
18 participants drawn from the three Eastern Nile
countries of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and ENTRO attended the study visit which was held from
21st-30th October 2014. The study visit was facilitated by the Gansu Research Institute for Water
Conservancy (GRIWC), People’s Republic of China.
In addition to visiting different interventions in the
field, the group had opportunities to interact with
communities as well as administrative and technical
staff at different levels. Detailed report on the visit
was prepared and will be distributed with a purpose
of disseminating the experience to a wider group.
All watershed management projects work towards
changes that benefit beneficiary. Participants presented their findings, and formulated insights to
be applied in ENWSM activities. In addition participants discussed about practical ideas for collaboration. Participants were very enthusiastic about the
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Nile-Flow
visit and all promised to use it actively.
The Knowledge Exchange Visit was an excellent occasion that demonstrated to the EN Visit Group how
social and environmental issues can be integrated in
practice in the management of EN watershed management. A report has been prepared on the Visit,
and will be due out shortl
ments on dam safety to strengthen the planning
and implementation capacity of dam safety in the
EN sub-basin. The documents include: Eastern Nile
Reference Dam Safety Guideline (both for small and
large dams which has tans-boundary nature); Small
Dam Safety Guideline (focusing on national level
small dams) and Dam Safety Training Module. In
addition to the documents on dam safety, ENTRO
conducted several trainings.
4th Dam safety Training Workshop on
Water Infrastructures Planning,
Design and Construction Management
27th -29th October 2014, Juba
18 participants drawn from the three Eastern Nile
countries of Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan and
ENTRO attended the study visit which lasted from
October 21-30, 2014. The study visit was facilitated
by the Gansu Research Institute for Water Conservancy (GRIWC), People’s Republic of China.
Compiled by Akewak Yadeta, communication expert
Dam safety Training workshops
Water infrastructures, in particular dams, bring water,
power, flood control, recreation, economic possibilities and many other advantages to people. However,
it is crucial to think about safe operation and maintenance of water infrastructures to sustaining these
advantages and avoiding potential disaster.
In Eastern Nile dam safety issue appears to be critical issue. Among others: there are aged dams which
need close monitoring, inspection, maintenance and
remedial works and improvement of instrumentation
for safety monitoring; water storage dams (large
and complex) are being operated and constructed,
particularly on trans-boundary rivers; limited technical, financial and institutional capacity to handle
safety of existing large and complex dams; absence
of regional and national dam safety guideline and
framework are available to manage safety of dams
in the basin; The sub basin lacks regional cooperation on trans-boundary dam safety management
To address dam safety needs, ENTRO has been
working on the development of dam safety guideline, preparation of dam safety regulation framework
and capacity building to enhance the technical capacity of EN water resources planners, policy makers, engineers, designers and experts in the field.
Recently ENTRO produced three important docu-
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The overall objective of the training workshop was to
strengthen the capacity of South Sudan experts on
planning, design and construction aspects of water
infrastructure. The specific objectives were: To provide an overview of Eastern Nile regional dam safety
guideline; To develop human resources capabilities
and create self-reliance in the ministry emphasizing on the following components; Preparation of
prefeasibility and feasibility studies, design reports,
specifications and tender document preparation and
evaluation ; general design aspects on dams and hydropower schemes ; Investigation methods - possibilities and limitations; to provide basic concepts on
dams development in a transboundary water resources and to consider the management context dealing
with technical and socio-environmental issues.
25 participants attended the training workshop. In
terms of gender composition, 8% were female participants. The training workshop was facilitated by
five resource persons who have regional and international experience.
News and Events
5th Dam Safety Workshop on Dam
Safety Inspection and Monitoring
for Dam Operators
ty management. The workshop was attended by 32
participants. They were academics, engineers and
scientists who represented the countries of Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
17th -19th November 2014, Khartoum
The main objectives of the training workshop were
to:create awareness on EN dam safety practice and
EN Dam safety guidelines; provide basic training on
dam safety management principles, failure consequences and international best practices; and raise
the competence level and practical knowledge on
dam operation, inspection, instrumentation reading
and interpretation techniques, Emergency Action
Plan and documentation.
The training was given by three experts drawn from
within the region and internationally. Each of the
experts has over 15 years of experience of water
resources development or dam projects including
many projects within the Nile basin or elsewhere in
Africa. A total 23 dam operators attended the training workshop (6 from Ethiopia, 15 from Sudan and
2 from South Sudan). In addition to presentations,
group exercise and site visit to Sennar dam was part
of the training
7th Dam Safety Training Workshop
on Dam safety in a Trans-boundary
Water Resources Context
4th - 5th December 2014, Nazareth, Ethiopia
The objective of the training workshop was to provide an overview of dam safety management in a
transboundary water resources context dealing with
concepts of regulation, institutional arrangements,
cooperation and information sharing. It was aimed
to strengthen the capacity of higher officials and
policy makers on dam safety management in the
Eastern Nile. The specific objectives were to: create awareness on basic dam safety principles, dam
incidents and risks associated with dam safety; provide an overview of Eastern Nile regional dam safety
guideline and dam safety practice assessment report for high level officials and policy makers; provide an overview of dam safety management in a
trans-boundary water resources management context dealing with concepts of regulation, institutional
arrangement, cooperation, information sharing, and
participation and planning; strengthen interaction
and networking among participants in dam safety
management; and provide examples of dam-related
trans-boundary water agreements, conventions,
challenges and opportunities around the world and
offer practical experience.
6th Dam Safety Training Workshop
on EN Dam Safety Training Module
Review and ToT Training,
1st – 3rd December 2014, Nazareth, Ethiopia
The objective of the Dam Safety Module Development
is to strengthen the capacity of dam safety management in the Eastern Nile, specifically through the development of a short term dam safety training module
& and through the provision of short term training.
The training module will be used by the staff of
Eastern Nile Universities to train interested students
(including but not limited to Ministry staff, other professionals and students) in dam safety. The dam
safety training module has the following main objectives: serve as a guide for the trainers, e.g. EN
University staff; serve as a reference guideline for
trainees; and provide basic checklists for dam safe-
The workshop participants were parliamentarians,
policy makers, planners, regulators and high level
experts working in the Water, Energy and Environment Ministries of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan. 31 participants attended the workshop.
Compiled by Awoke Kassa, M&E officer and Akewak Yadeta, communication expert
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Nile-Flow
Review Workshop for Preparation
of Watershed investment projects
(NCORE), Nov 2014
the projects would be contribution to the reduction
of sedimentation of downstream facilities.
ENTRO has organized review workshops in
Chemoga, Fincha, Upper Atbara, & Tulkuk in
November 2014. The aim of the review workshop
1. Integrated Watershed management: Abbay Subbasin, Chemoga Catchment. Ethiopia in an area
of high potential but degrading resource base.
was to consult with and collects feedback from key
stakeholders about the prepared watershed management projects so that it is possible to incorporate
what was missed by the study team. Furthermore, it
was also aimed at transfer of knowledge to participants in the area of project preparation, monitoring
and evaluation of development projects.
ENTRO through its Eastern Nile Watershed Management Project (NWSMP) has built a significant
degree of experience in the analysis, identification
and preparation of watershed interventions from a
The Projects identified and previously delineated are:
2. Integrated Watershed management: Abbay Subbasin, Fincha’a Catchment. Ethiopia in an area
of high potential but degrading resource base.
3. Restoration of Kerib Land along the Upper
Atbara River, Sudan.
4. Support to Water Harvesting in the Gash Delta,
Kassla, Sudan.
A joint watershed investment preparation team comprising of national/local agency staff with ENTRO
specialists and Consultants undertook the prepara-
The 4 new Watershed Management Investment Projects in Numbers
Project Name
Hectares covered
Estimated population Cost estimate (US$)
1. Chemoga Integrated Watershed Management-Ethiopia
131,768
533,811
116.7 Mln
2. Fincha Integrated Watershed
Management-Ethiopia
188,708
456,981
126.6 Mln
3. Restoration of Kerib Land along
the Upper Atbara River-Sudan
126,043
66,614
17.7 Mln
4. Support to Water Harvesting in
the Gash Delta, Kassala-Sudan
594,737
274, 978
32.3 Mln
Total
915,213 ha
1, 057,406
US$ 293.3 Mln
transboundary, basin-wide perspective. With the
goal of up scaling the experience gained so far and
sustain the Regional cooperative process, ENWSMP
has been assisting the EN countries to conduct project preparation for four identified sub-watersheds
(Chemoga, Fincha, Upper Atbara, & Tulkuk) from
technical, environmental, social, economic, financial, and institutional perspectives.
The overall aim is to conducting studies leading to
the preparation and design of investment projects
for four watersheds in Ethiopia and Sudan. The goal
of these investment projects is to promote sustainable livelihoods among the communities within the
watersheds by employing various development interventions. Another critical impact anticipated from
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tion of these investments.
The final report, in an investment ready format, was
finalized in December 2014. The final reports were
prepared in two volumes. Volume 1 is the main report and volume 2 is annexes to the main report.
The workshop has achieved the following shortterm results: Feedback collected to enrich the project documents; common understanding created
among the key projects’ stakeholders about the
project development setting, project components,
institutional arrangement, environmental and social
framework and monitoring and evaluation approach
of the projects; and also participants ensured their
commitment to work closely with the project in order
News and Events
to implement the project successfully and achieve
the planned results.
and stakeholders contributed in the development of
methodology, main indicators and possible scenarios that can be used for scoping and in deliverable of
the MSIOA study.
The EN-MSIOA study is one of several specific studies that is being undertaken to achieve the general
objective of the NCORE from the Eastern Nile perspective. The overall objective of the Multi Sectoral
Investment Opportunity Analysis is to develop a regional water investment strategy for the EN region
that broadly supports socio-economic development, poverty reduction, and the reversal of environmental degradation .
76 participants attended the review workshop representing Government offices, Universities, target
communities, NGOs, consultants and ENTRO. Of
whom, 24 were from Chemoga-Yeda, 14 from Fincha, 11 from Atbara-Kerib, 14 from Telkuk, 7 from
Sudan Watershed Component. ENTRO and consultants were represented by 3 participants each. In
terms of gender composition, 8 (11%) were female
participants.
ENTRO holds the Second New Nile
Conference in on 8 and 9
December 2014 Addis Ababa
Compiled by Awoke Kassa, M&E officer and Akewak Yadeta,
communication expert
MSIOA Situation Analysis Report
Review Workshop, November 2014,
Khartoum
From 8-9 December 2014 an international conference themed “New Nile Opportunities: Scientific
Advances towards Prosperity in the Eastern Nile Basin” took place at the UNECA Conference Centre in
Addis Ababa. Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office
(ENTRO) organized the conference in collaboration
with UNESCO-IHE. International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Embassy of the Kingdom
of Netherlands in Sudan financially supported the
conference.
MSIOA Situation Analysis Report Review Workshop was held in Khartoum from 15-16 November,
2014. The MSIOA- Situation Analysis Workshop was
conducted with the aim of consulting with relevant
stakeholders, gathering their feedback and to have
a technical discussion on the deliverables of the Situation Analysis. The workshop is believed to serve
as a plat form to examine whether the study captured the opportunities and risks associated with the
potential investment options. In the two days consultation workshop participants: ENSAPT members,
consultants, development partners, ENTRO staff
The New Nile Conference series was conceived in the
context of the emerging changes driven by proliferation
of water infrastructures; increasing land conversion for
agriculture; degradation of critical ecosystem wild life,
biodiversity and environmental assets; land/environmental degradation; growing demand for Nile water
in the midst of insufficient scientific understanding of
the river system and the potential impact of Climate
Change. This Conference is a follow up to the first New
Nile Perspective Conference of Khartoum 2013.
The aim of this Second New Nile conference was
advancing the scientific frontier in adaptive and ef-
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Nile-Flow
ficient water management and more productive use
of the Eastern Nile water for the collective socioeconomic development of the countries. This conference is being conducted as part of the long-term
strategy to keep the scientific community engaged
and constantly contribute to optimizing the benefits
from emerging development opportunities, while at
the same time addressing the challenges that these
opportunities bring along. This was repeatedly heard
during the opening plenary of the Second New Nile
Conference in the UN-ECA Conference Center in
Addis Ababa on 8 and 9 December 2014.
In his welcoming remarks ENTRO’s Executive Director Mr Fekahmed Negash, stressed the necessity of
averting competition and misunderstanding through
a multi-level approach for genuine and all inclusive
cooperation. He also pronounced the role the scientific community could play by identifying the drivers
of cooperation and indicating the benefits of cooperation and costs of non-cooperation. Fekahmed
also added that the results of the findings which will
beinterrogated, tested and verified through scientific methods could shape the nature of the collective
decisions we make as regards many facets of Nile
water resource use and management.
In keynote address - read-out on behalf of the guest
of honor Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy,
H.E. Alemayehu Tegenu - it is remarked that such
forums can enhance knowledge based decision
making and facilitate negotiation and cooperation
informed by hard science for fair, equitable and sustainable use in the Eastern Nile.
Professor Pieter van der Zaag of the UNESCO-IHE,
in his keynote address, discussed Benefit-sharing,
Infrastructure development and African examples of
jointly owned, constructed and managed dams. He
stated that large infrastructure can have positive externalities but burden sharing also needs to be considered. According to Pieter, Eastern Nile countries
have a lot to learn from the experience of the jointly
owned, constructed and managed dams such as:
- Khatse Dam: Orange Senge River and Maguga
Dam: Incomati River where sharing benefit is underpinned by well defined data, a strong institution,
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and a bilateral agreement. Pieter also stated that
Joint infrastructure implies prosperity and regional
stability if imaginative measures to ensure compliance, trust and formal agreements are put in place.
Dr. Musa Muhammed Abseno, International Water
Law and Policy Expert and Consultant, on his part
said the role of the scientific community in promoting hydro-diplomacy is critical. He also indicated
that it must go beyond the consideration that cooperation is only the mandate of the government and
should engage all stakeholders e.g. private sector,
cultural leaders, and water users and wide range of
expertise i.e. multi-disciplinary approach needed.
The the scientific community will help in tackling the
lack of genuine cooperation in the development and
protection of the Nile water resources, he added.
The conference presented and discussed the science of the river Nile and its status, the ecosystem
and environmental services it supports, Climate
Change impacts which could potentially lead to
frequency of extreme events and the cumulative impact which would threaten environmental
sustainability, development challenges in the basin and opportunities for transboundary cooperation amongst the countries. The conference was
structured in 12 parallel sessions for the three sub
themes: Understanding the Eastern Nile Water Resources System (The physical system: Hydrology,
Climate Change, Watershed management); Eastern
Nile Developments: status and alternative scenarios
for the future (Hydro-economic development: Agriculture; Hydropower; Water supply and sanitation,
Infrastructures development; Trade-offs: Upstream
versus downstream or basin wide development,
Socio-economic development versus environmental sustainability); and Water Diplomacy and Hydro
Politics in the Eastern Nile (Cooperation in Eastern
Nile, Hydro politics, interdependencies, Complex
Adaptive Systems, Water diplomacy, water policy,
regulations, governance and mechanisms of enhancing participation).
Researchers, scientists and scholars from Eastern
Nile countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and South
Sudan), Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Canada and USA took part in the con-
News and Events
ference. These experts shared perspectives and
solutions which focused on: the challenges and opportunities that come along with the proliferation of
water infrastructures; degradation of critical ecosystem, wild life, biodiversity and environmental assets; land/environmental degradation; high population and urbanization growth rates induced growing
demand for Nile water; growing uncertainty and expected climate change impacts; sedimentation; the
competitive utilization across the Nile basin and the
hydro politics in the basin.
In this second New Nile conference interesting research papers are presented. Among others, some
presenters brought “new” issues which were subjects of hot discussion in the 2 days conference.
Marlies Barendrecht a graduate student from Netherlands (TU Delft and UNESCO-IHE) introduced the
concept of Water Accounting+ as “a way of reporting
on the water resources conditions in a river basin, including hydrology, water management, land use and
services, based on open access data”. She pointed
out the importance of giving more attention to an
integrated approach for improving water, land and
ecosystems management and the best tool would
be Water Accounting+ for this integrated approach.
Takele Seboka(PhD), Associate Professor of Law
University of Western Australia, also spoke about
Human Rights to water approach for Nile under the
topic “ Humanizing Regulation of the Nile: The Human Right to Water in the Nile Basin” . He argued
that, taking the Nile basin as a case study, the declaration of the human right to water will potentially
influence, and positively contributes to, the rules and
principles applicable to transbundary water sharing
arrangements in the Nile basin and elsewhere. In
particular, He pointed out that the declaration of the
human right to water by the continental quasi-judicial body (African Commission) within the regional
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights has direct
implications on the setting of priorities of water allocation and the ordering of the types of uses to which
Nile waters can be put. In his study he concluded
that the human rights approach to water allocation
plays a transformative role, placing local rights holders at the centre of transboundary water allocation,
which Nile riparian states need to take into account
more often than they currently do. Another participant, Yasir S. A. Ali (PhD) from Sudan, in his paper
entitled “the impact of soil erosion in the upper blue
Nile on downstream reservoir sedimentation” presented a study that combines source to sink through
sediment transport in the river system. He argued
that the analysis of land-use changes and the identification of the degree of soil erosion are not enough
to identify Eroded sediment that is transported to
the lower Blue Nile Basin, where sedimentation occurs in reservoirs and irrigation canals. In his study
he posits that a study that combines source to sink
through sediment transport in the river system is
needed. He also indicated in his presentation that
the only effective solution to reduce the sedimentation problems will be that of reducing the sediment
input. According to Yasir we can identify the most
critical eroding areas in the upper basin via identification the origin of the sediment deposited in Roseires Reservoir, linked the mineral characteristics of
the material of the eroded areas in the upper basins
(Ethiopia) and the deposited soil layers inside reservoir. This method help to assess the land use-land
cover changes in the sub-basins providing the most
sediment and link these to soil erosion rates.
The objectives of this 2nd Conference are: 1) Advancing the scientific frontier in adaptive and efficient water management; 2) To disseminate and discuss the results of state-of the art research, along
with identification of y present and future potentials
and threats in the Eastern Nile and 3) To form new
alliances for future Nile research.
In many ways the Second New Nile Conference was
‘international scientific event’. Key academics lined
up to praise cooperation and push for all states to
proffer efforts at achieving real development for
the basin’s economies and peoples. In all the subthemes of the conference a general consensus was
emerging on the need to put development at the
centre of cooperation.
This Conference was attended by more than 110 participants who came from Eastern Nile and other countries.
13
Nile-Flow
Review workshop on integrated
watershed development in the
eastern Nile: field guide and toolkit
for watershed management
01 – 02 December, 2014 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
ENTRO held a workshop to review watershed management field guideline and toolkit on 01 – 02 December, 2014 in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The NCORE
watershed management work at ENTRO prepared
field guide for watershed management in the Eastern Nile which has a purpose to assist professionals
concerned with the planning and implementation
of watershed management activities by providing
practical information supported by examples from a
wide variety of situations. Among others, the workshop is meant to serve as a platform for the would
be users of the field guide to add the local experience and information deemed necessary which will
help to include the unique situation in each country.
Regional Training on Project
Preparation (NCORE funding)
17th- 20th December 2014, Khartoum
From the 17th-20th December 2014, ENTRO held the
Regional Training on Project Preparation (NCORE
funding) in Khartoum. The overall objective of this
training is to build the capacity of national institutions on concepts, principles and practices of project preparation, building on the lessons learned
from implementation of on-going investment project preparation and other experiences in the region,
and thereby assist them to conduct and advance
detailed watershed project preparation from technical, environmental, social, economic, financial, and
institutional perspectives.
Towards providing a comprehensive understanding
of a project preparation, the training focused on the
following major themes:
•
•
The final report, in an investment ready format, was
finalized in December 2014 and sent for publication.
The final reports were prepared in two volumes. Volume 1 is the main report and volume 2 is annexes
to the main report. The purpose of the guideline is
to serve as a reference document for field technicians working in natural resources management. It
is expected to contribute to the upgrading of the
technical contents and scope of planning and management of watershed management interventions in
Eastern Nile countries.
Wide range of stakeholders from Ethiopia, Sudan
and South Sudan took part in the workshop.
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction to project cycle management:
Phases in project cycle and their sequence,
management tasks and management tools
Project preparation: Logical Framework
Approach (LFA) as a project planning tool;
LFA processes and steps: situation analysis,
stakeholder analysis and capacity assessment,
problem and objective analysis, analysis of alternatives, activity planning; logical framework
matrix; and implementation arrangements
Project design and analysis tools (based on the LFA)
Use of LFA to develop activity and resource
scheduling
Tools to assess the quality of project proposals (to identify weaknesses or gaps in project
design related to relevance, feasibility and
sustainability
Designing a Monitoring and Reporting system
Project Evaluation
A resource person with extensive experience was
recruited to facilitate the training. A training manual
and reference materials were also prepared and distributed to the participants. 22 training participants
(7 each from Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan and 3
from ENTRO) attended the program.
14
News and Events
Regional Capacity Building
Workshop in Social Development
and Environment Management
Water Diplomacy Workshop
30th - 31st Dec 2014, Khartoum
27th - 29th Dec 2014, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
This workshop was organized for ENTRO national focal points (Sudan, RSS and Ethiopia) and also for ENTRO Regional Coordinators, some of who are newly
hired. The workshop was also organized for ENSAP
social development and environment working groups.
The phasing out of CBSI (2010) and NTEAP (2012)
created a gap that ENTRO now plans to redress by
the reconstitution of a regional social development
and environment management working group. The
plan includes revitalization of the role of National
Social Development Coordinators as well as nomination by the countries of National Environment
Management Focal Points – at the Ministries of Water Resources and the Power Utilities. In pursuit of
its plan, ENTRO organized a workshop to revitalize
the regional working group
The objectives of the workshop include: Revitalization of the Regional Social Development and Environment Management Working Group, capacity
building for members of the regional group, and
deliberation on mandate and future plans of the regional working group.
The capacity building training workshop focused
on topics such as: NBI/ENSAP/ENTRO update; NB
sustainability framework; NBI environment & social
policy; environment audit concept and tools; ENSAP environment and social management guidance;
NBI gender policy and strategy; gender audit; NBI
public participation framework; climate change and
enhancing resilience; SSEA and EIA ;roles, responsibilities and future plans of regional working groups
and methodologies for collection of social data.
49 participants attended the training workshop. Of
whom, 38 were from Government offices and Universities, 1 Intern, 8 ENTRO staff, 3 consultants.
In terms of gender composition, 24% were female
participants.
Compiled by Awoke Kassa, M&E officer and Akewak Yadeta, communication expert
The second Track II water diplomacy workshop was
held in Khartoum, Sudan. In the program introduction by Dr Wubalem and opening remarks by Mr
Fekahmed Negash it is indicated that the water diplomacy workshop series and the idea for this Track
II Water Diplomacy emerge out of ENTRO’s need
on “how, without violating the limits of its mandates [that restrict it to only preparing agreed upon
cooperative investment programs and building
knowledge and capabilities] to promote exploration
of new ideas and approaches on the part of nonformal actors and stakeholders (within and outside
the region) to eventually inform or otherwise feed to
the negotiation process for more positive, win-win,
breakthrough outcomes?” In this context the Objectives of the workshop were: To introduce workshop participants to the state-of-the-art (theory and
practice) in Track II water diplomacy and how Water
Diplomacy can help resolve current differences and
disagreements in Nile Basin Cooperation; and to facilitate networking among Eastern Nile stakeholders to encourage exploratory deliberations, seek
new avenues, engaging in joint problem solving ,
documenting the results (recommendations, way
forward innovative, break-thru/win-win proposals)
and work out ways of disseminating them, including to relevant policy makers/negotiators to make
a positive difference in negotiated outcomes. This
is expected to facilitate, in the long run, emergence
of epistemic community of Eastern Nile water resource professionals, policy makers, managers, researchers, thinkers etc. dedicated to the promotion
of inter-riparian cooperation and sustainability of the
common Nile Basin resources.
Extensive presentations were made on the potential
and untapped role non-government actors could influence positively (by encouraging governments in
various ways, including thru positive media coverage, blogs, articles, etc.) the emergence of a negotiated (Track I) outcome, in which all parties end up
15
Nile-Flow
as winners. The presenters underlined that transboundary water has to be understood as a flexible
resource facing increasing demand and uncertain
variability rather than assuming that there is a fixed
amount of water to divide among different users.
Concepts such as adaptive water management,
Conflict Management Styles, human rights to water,
International water law and track II water diplomacy
have been discussed in detail.
The program of the track II water diplomacy workshop focused primarily on lectures from Dr Takele
Soboka, Dr Wubalem Fekade, Dr Musa Abseno and
Akewak Yadeta.
The workshop concluded a way forward “Khartoum
statement on Eastern Nile cooperation” in which
participants committed themselves and pledged to
support and encourage EN governments to deepen and broadened Nile cooperation and called on
Egypt to rejoin the Nile basin family.
The objective of the training workshop was to familiarize with key NBI/ENSAP social and environmental
policies and to ensure good practice in integrating
social and environmental concerns and priorities
into the preparation and implementation of ENSAP
projects among key stakeholders in South Sudan.
A range of participants from a cross section of Eastern
Nile took part in the workshop, including: government,
civil society, academia, media, parliamentarians, exdiplomats, elders, the NBI and ENTRO.
22 participants attended the workshop. Of whom,
15 were from Government offices and Universities,
4 ENTRO staff, 3 consultants. In terms of gender
composition, 27% were female participants ENTRO
hired consultants from the region to support delivery of key issues, while overarching themes were
covered by the ENTRO.
National Capacity Building Workshop in Social Development and
Environmental Management
GIS and Remote Sensing Training
Workshop for South Sudan
1-5 December 2014, Juba
1st-6th Dec 2014, Juba
Capacity building of ENTRO staff and country teams
of ENSAP projects is a precondition for effective integrations of social development and environmental concerns. Accordingly, ENTRO has organized a
series of national and regional capacity building in
social development and environment management.
The social development modules covered social
and gender issues in natural resource, stakeholder
processes, methodologies for social and environmental assessments in project preparation, and
conflict transformation emanating from natural resources use and project implementation.
The capacity building training workshop focused on
four themes: the trans-boundary aspects of environmental management, the integration of social and
environmental issues, approach to climate change
in ENSAP projects and environmental management
in the project cycle.
16
GIS and Remote Sensing capacity building training
workshop was held in Juba from 1st-5th December
2014. The five days training was given for South Sudan participants and interns on new public-domain
data sets. The training aimed at building the capacity of professionals from south Sudan in the area of
global data sets which will help in filling the knowledge gap that ENTRO and its stakeholders grapple with. It is indicated that remote sensing training
is vital to contribute to the capacity building effort
and filling the knowledge gap in South Sudan. In the
News and Events
training Topics covered were: principles of Remote
Sensing (Theory); Visible and Infrared Remote Sensing (Theory and Applications); Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing (Theory and Applications); microwave
Remote Sensing (Theory and Applications); Satellite
Remote Sensing of Rainfall (Theory and Applications) and various spectral bands.
ENTRO Internship program:
The 3rd and 4th Batches
It has been a while since ENTRO initiated the Internship program with the aim of helping a range
of stakeholders by providing opportunity of network and collaboration among Eastern Nile Water
Resource professionals, academic Institutions and
Ministry Offices. It is widely agreed that the program
is helping to contribute for the sustainability of the
EN cooperation by expanding the range of stakeholders and leveraging inter-university cooperation
among the EN countries to support the NBI-ENTRO
achieve the shared vision. With this objective the 3rd
and 4th batch of interns under NCORE was engaged
in different activities
3rd Batch Internship:
The 3rd batch of internship was started in the mid
of June 2014. In this batch, 15 interns from Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan were divided in to five
groups and accomplished the following.
of Sudan Flood Forecast Models, Developed Flood
Forecast Models for BAS flood prone areas.
4th batch Internship:
The 4th batch internship was started in October
2014. In this batch, 16 interns were divided in to
five groups and accomplished the following.
Dam Safety group: Revisited the dam safety toolkit,
enhanced and added functionality, Small /Micro
dam safety assessment, prepared database for
small dam in Ethiopia and Sudan, enhanced the
user manual of the toolkit and supported the enhancement of the dam safety toolkit. MSIOA group:
Supported the MSIOA team in collecting data and
providing support when it was needed like updating
and collecting social, environmental, economic, and
water resource related, prepared some maps for the
MSIOA study, prepared model input data sets with
the team and ENTRO, schematized, calibrate and
run Mike-Hydro model for different scenarios (which
are developed by ENTRO and the MSIOA team), and
supported ENTRO library in the preparation of citation for the regional Nile Basin bibliography.
Watershed Management group: Developed watershed modeling system to determine suitable sites
for small dam to Fincha and Chemoga sites, and
prepared user manual for the developed models.
Web Portal group: Supported the IT component in
the development of Web based Information Manage-
Dam safety group: Reviewed of Easter Nile Guidelines for small dams report, and Guideline produced
on Eastern Nile (EN) Dams Operation, Inspection
and Maintenance
IT, GIS and Communication group: Flood Administration Tool developed, which will be used by the
flood forecasting team to read time-series data generated from models, developed Flood Forecasting
application, initiated irrigation web application.
Database and Data Quality group: Web portal requirement data gathered.
Water Diplomacy group: A paper was prepared on
EN adaptive water management, and the 2nd New
Nile Conference call for paper was initiated
Flood Forecasting and Early Warning group: Produced
daily and weekly Forecast Report for Lake Tana Floodplains (Eta weather forecast model, combined flood
forecasting models) and supported the enhancement
of Lake Tana Models, produced daily and weekly
Forecast Report for Blue and Main Nile System in Sudan (Sudan FEWS) and supported the enhancement
ment System, supported database administration
and web application development, and design the
new structure to enhance web portal and navigation.
Water Diplomacy group: Assisted in the coordination of the second Water Diplomacy Workshop, and
the Second New Nile Conference.
During both of the internship program interns attended various trainings on Dam safety, remote
sensing, GIS, programming, watershed management and modeling. In addition, consecutive training sessions were provided for the young professionals which include: ENTRO staff training and
orientation on the Analytical tools and programs,
training on developing interactive tools using Excel functionality (writing VB code, recording mac-
17
Nile-Flow
ros, etc), creating animated products and Arc GIS
by World Bank experts, and database development
and introduction to programming with C# by Web
specialist consultant.
Compiled by Awoke Kassa, M&E officer and Akewak Yadeta,
communication expert
Climate Risk Assessment training
workshop,
Dec 21-22, 2014 Khartoum
ENTRO organized a training workshop on “Climate
Risk Assessment (CRA) “on 21 – 22 December 2014
in Khartoum, Sudan. The workshop was attended by
30 participants from Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan. The workshop participants were from Eastern
Nile national & regional institutions viz. government
offices and universities involved in climate change,
and implementing public investment projects.
One of the consultants of the Eastern Nile CRA study
Professor Elfatih A. B. Eltahir, from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, discussed that the African
region in general and Eastern Nile sub region in particular still stands out as the most vulnerable area. He
further indicated that threat of climate change is real,
and Eastern Nile countries together with the other African countries are expected to be hit hardest due to
the current high vulnerability and low coping capacity levels. In the same way Maha Abdel Gaffar (PhD),
resource person of the CRA workshop, presented
that the limited adaptive capacity of Eastern Nile
countries to climate change has been noted as key
factor in the sub basin’s high vulnerability to climate
change. Azeb Mersha, Water Resources Modeler at
ENTRO, presented the importance of analytical tools
for effective use of climate information to identify adaptation strategies and support adaptation planning.
She argued that there has been limited use of climate
information due to lack of tools to integrate Climate
into the Eastern Nile Context. Beakal Gobena presented ENTRO’s Web Portal. He pointed out that ENTRO has generated substantial amount of datasets,
information and knowledge resources has been generated related to socio-economic and environmental
and water resource, etc.On Eastern Nile. According
to him through the webportal ENTRO is attempting
18
to effectively share the wealth of knowledge generated to its stakeholders in a unified format. Presenters of case studies similarly argued that there is an
urgent need to strengthen the adaptive capacities of
all stakeholders in Eastern Nile including researchers, policy makers, community groups, etc in order
to collectively develop strategies for reducing vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change, and
to seize the opportunities that climate change may
present.
The workshop provided the participants with a comprehensive two-day training on climate risk assessment approaches, climate data utilization for impact
and vulnerability assessment and technical analysis
in adaptation assessment and planning. Case studies on CRA projects in Ethiopia, South Sudan and
Sudan were also presented to illustrate the challenges that climate change presents to specific
countries, how these risks have been addressed in
practice and lessons learned. The workshop also
provided an opportunity for the participants to share
their experiences in addressing climate risks in development planning and investment projects.
The Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) study aims to
develop and operationalize an analytical framework
for integrating climate risks into the process of investment planning and management of the EN water
resources. Such analytical framework for CRA could
be used to guide water related investment in the EN
and form the basis for climate screening for investment project and provide guidance to the development of climate smart strategies. The work shop is
aimed at building the capacity of the EN national
& regional institutions on the topics the proposed
analytical framework for climate risk assessment
and means for integrating adaptation and mitigation measures as part of the planning process, as
well as on approaches to climate risk management
in Water-Resources Investment Planning in the Nile
Basin planning and investment projects.
The workshop was conducted as part of the
consultancy service provided by the climate risk
analysis consultant.
News and Events
ENTRO Staff Training Week
12th - 17th of December 2014 Bahir Dar Ethiopia
ENTRO organized the 2014’s Staff Training Week in
Bahir Dar. The aim of the training was staff capacity
building.
Seminars, individual, regional coordinators and
management meetings, visits to watershed management sites are organized on the Staff Training
Week. Among others some of the topics presented
were monitoring and evaluation, procurement and
ENWSM Knowledge Exchange Visit to the Loess
Plateau, China.
The Ministers examined the report submitted by
29th ENSAPT and approved it. The Eastern Nile
Council of Ministers meeting concluded passing a
decision to make a onetime contribution of USD
454,000 to ENTRO over and above the annual
country contributions.
Participants of the Week have the option to visit
sites such as Lake Tana, Blue Nile Falls, Palaces
and Castles of Gondar.
Eastern Nile Council of Ministers
(ENCOM) held 28th meeting
February 12, 2015, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
The 28th meeting of the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM), the governing body of the Eastern
Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) of the Nile
Basin Initiative (NBI), discussed issues in the basin,
such as cooperation, Ethiopia-Sudan transmission
interconnection projects, the Eastern Nile watershed management project, the need to bring back
Egypt to EN Cooperation,. Furthermore they confer Nile water use as a tool for regional integration
and a support for socioeconomic development. The
meeting was conducted following the two-day 29th
Meeting of the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program Team (ENSAPT).
The meeting was attended by representatives from
Ethiopia, Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan. In
their speech H. E. Mutaz Musa Abdalla, the outgoing
chair of ENCOM , H.E. Alemayehu Tegenu, the incoming chair, and Engineer Isaac Liabwel, representing H.E
Jemma Nunu Kumba, made a speech emphasizing that
still there remains work to be done to address the challenges facing the Eastern Nile cooperation specifically
bringing back Egypt to the cooperation dais.
Of Interest: THE IPCC´s FIFTH
ASSESSMENT REPORT (AR5)
The IPCC has released its Fifth Assessment Report
(AR5). This follows the overall mandate of the IPCC,
the main activity of which is to prepare comprehensive assessment reports about climate change at regular intervals, typically of about five to seven years.
The IPCC’s First Assessment Report (FAR) in 1990
played a decisive role in leading to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), which was opened for signature at the
Rio de Janeiro Summit in 1992. The Second Assessment Report (SAR) of 1995 provided key input for
the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The
Third Assessment Report (TAR) of 2001 provided further information relevant to the development of the
UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) paid greater attention to the
integration of climate change with sustainable development policies and the relationships between mitigation and adaptation, and led to a wider awareness
of climate change issues in the general public and
among decision-makers.
The Fifth Assessment, which was finalized in 2014,
is made up of four reports: the three IPCC Working
Groups’ contributions dealing respectively with “The
Physical Science Basis”, “Impacts, Adaptation, and
Vulnerability”, and “Mitigation of Climate Change”,
and the Synthesis Report (SYR). Each report contains its own Summary for Policymakers (SPM)
which is approved line by line by all member countries of the IPCC and represents a formally agreed
statement on key findings and uncertainties.
19
Concepts
that Matter
Eastern Nile water resources development,
biodiversity and ecosystem resilience:
A nexus concept?
Introduction
Eastern Nile sub-basins harbor and are havens for
a range of biodiversity assets of regional and global
significance. Needless to say, ENSAP (the Eastern
Nile Subsidiary Action Program) is about promoting cooperative water resources development i.e.
investment in the subbasin. Investment to ensure
reliable supply of clean energy (hydropower) to fuel
economic growth; investment to ensure adequate
supply of food for a growing population; investment
to provide safe drinking water to growing cities (water) is all what we are about. But then it is equally
important to make sure that these provisions are
not met at the cost of our long term survival. Water resources development is not cost-free. Among
the environmental costs stands out the risks water
resources investments pose to biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Can it be possible that we turn
Eastern Nile into a meeting point, a nexus – where
energy, food, water requirements- are reconciled
with the long-term needs of biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem resilience? These are not
mere rhetorical questions. These are immediate, if
you like life-and-death urgent, questions for which
we need to provide answers.
20
Biodiversity, ecosystem resilience: why
worry about them?
Before we proceed, however, we need to agree on what
we mean by biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
The term biodiversity refers to the multiplicity or
range of living things within an ecosystem. Ecosystems are communities of living things that interact
with each other and with the environment. The more
diverse an ecosystem is the more resilient it is. That
is to say, when ecosystems are resilient, they can
regain their balance and restore their species diversity and functioning after sustaining some damage
or shock.
Biodiversity could be expressed in terms of genetic
diversity (genetic variability within a species such as
color, morphology, or similar attributes); in terms of
species diversity (the variety of different species or
types i.e. types of animals, plants and microorganisms); and in terms of ecosystem diversity (the variety of different ecosystems, such as wetland, forest,
savannah grassland). Undisturbed, intact ecosystems are often rich in biodiversity. Ecosystems also
provide important services to mankind – ranging
from supply of food, construction materials to reg-
Photo: George Stenmetz, Natonal Geographic
Nile-Flow
ulating the hydrology of river systems, evening out
extremes of flood and drought (an aspect that will
be all the more relevant as Climate Change impacts
become eminent). The Sudd wetlands, the Machar
marshes, the grasslands and bushes of Eastern Nile
are important ecosystems. Ecosystems differ from
each other in terms of the richness of plant and animal and microorganism varieties they contain; their
location on the globe- along latitude and altitude,
their geological formation and so many other criteria.
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation go
hand in hand. The more directly we disturb the intricate web and functioning of virgin ecosystems, the
more they get degraded. The more they get degraded the more they lose their life support capabilities.
The more this happens, slowly but surely, the more
we lose the unique plant and animal species – the
biodiversity - characteristic of that ecosystem, until
in the end we only recount the presence of those
species as stories. Ecosystems have thresholds of
tolerance, beyond which we damage them irreversibly, beyond restoration. Even within our lifetimes,
many of us in Eastern Nile have witnessed the irreversible loss of our wetlands, forests, variety of wild
life that were part of our childhood, as those places
have been converted into farms and cities!
Biodiversity is not evenly distributed across the
world - it varies significantly across the globe as
well as within regions. Since temperature, rainfall,
altitude, soils, geographical location across the longitudes and latitudes, among others, determine the
distribution of animals and plants on the planet; their
study has been of interest to biogeography. Biodiversity is highest in the tropics. That is, you get more
animals, plants, microorganisms per square kilometer of land in the tropics (the tropical belt across
Africa, Latin America, and Asia) than in the temperate zone of Europe and America, for example. That
is why the year-by-year shrinking of the tropical
forests of the Amazon, the Congo; Wet Africa, Indonesia, is becoming global concern. We could be
losing important plant and animal species in these
ecosystems even before we know and appreciate
their potential medicinal, and environmental uses!!
Loss of biodiversity is becoming a global crisis. This
discussion takes us to the concept of biodiversity
hotspots. Hotspots are regions with high level of endemic species (i.e. plants and animals found only in a
specific geographical area and nowhere else) under
threat from humans. Hotspots are spread around
the world. But the majority of hotspots are forest
areas located in the tropics. Eastern Nile wetlands,
savannah grasslands and the remaining patches of
forests contain biodiversity hotspots which have
made them of growing interest to conservationists.
The loss of important ecosystems and biodiversity
hotspots is caused by habitat destruction. A habitat
simply put is a place where animals and plants live
without threat, pretty much like you feel safe and
comfortable in your house. Ecosystems are important habitats. The destruction of habitats –such as
wanton destruction of tropical forests, the pollution
of important water ways, the contamination of soil
– and now increasingly negative processes caused
by global warming – such as the acidification of the
oceans and destruction of coral reefs – are leading
to the extinction of important terrestrial (land) and
aquatic (water) species. Habitats for larger species
such as elephants, giraffes, etc., found exclusively
in the tropics are sensitive to ecosystem degradation and thus prone to irreversible loss. The causes for habitat loss are many – but mainly it is land
conversion for mono-crop farming (e.g. commercial
plantations such as for rice, sugar cane, palm oil
tree, etc.), urbanization, road building, and ranching, etc. which leaves behind, instead of the original
abundance of variety of species, only limited or few
dominant species that can thrive in more adverse
circumstances. That is why invasive weeds are
dominating such areas.
According to the Nile Information System, a webbased Nile Basin Initiative platform, Conservation
International has identified portions of the Nile basin as a biodiversity hotspot, known as the Eastern
Afromontane hotspot. Numerous wetlands within
Nile riparian countries have been included on the
List of Wetlands of International Importance under
the Ramsar Convention.
21
Nile-Flow
Sustaining biodiversity – the role of
Eastern Nile National Parks
Sudan into neighboring Ethiopia. This extraordinary
passage is often likened to the great migrations of
wildlife across the Serengeti. The magnificent biodiversity of South Sudan is a precious national asset,
but one that is under threat largely from the impacts
of climate change and environmental degradation.
And like the rest of the Horn of Africa, the population of South Sudan is highly vulnerable to changing
climate patterns with a limited capacity to maintain
sustainable livelihoods
By way of illustration, we introduce here two important, in a way contiguous, wildlife habitats the Boma
(in South Sudan) and Gambella (in Ethiopia) National Parks. These National parks are home to unique
bird, mammalian and reptile species that we should
strive to conserve as we plan to develop Eastern Nile
water resources. Preservation of biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem integrity and investing in water
resources development and livelihood improvement
should not be posed as mutually exclusive “either
or” options, but as complementary approaches of
ensuring sustainability of natural resources!
The 4-year, European Development Fund financed,
Biodiversity Management Programme in the Horn
of Africa, recently commissioned by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to be
implemented in Gambella region of Ethiopia by
HoA-REC&N (Horn of Africa Regional Environment
Centre and Network) in partnership with national
and regional conservation organizations is an initiative we all in the water sector should support and
work with.
The Boma-Gambella Wildlife
sancturary belt
The Boma-Gambella landscape stretches across
the South Sudan-Ethiopia border. Considerable
populations of antelopes, as well as wild buffalo,
elephants, lions, giraffe, other mammals, and extraordinary bird species and amphibians are hosted
in these habitats. The forest reserves host habitats
for the bongo antelope, various hog species, forest elephants, chimpanzees, and forest monkeys.
South Sudan shares with Ethiopia the second largest terrestrial mammal migration in Africa, whereby
an estimated 1.3 million White-eared kobo antelope
make the journey across the southeast of South
22
South Sudan is witnessing the drying up of permanent rivers resulting in loss of fish species and
a decrease in fish size, an important food source
for local communities. Water and wind erosion, as
well as wildfire, have led to increased soil degradation. Deforestation is a growing issue, as is illegal
wildlife exploitation. Increasing land privatization is
also an issue requiring consideration, and mineral
exploitation is occurring, especially oil exploration
in the wetland areas. On top of these trends, the
population of South Sudan is growing, putting natural resources under ever increasing pressure. The
governance framework for environmental management is at its infancy – in the institutional, financial
and technical capacity senses.
The Boma and Gambella National Parks on the
South Sudan and Ethiopian border respectively are
two halves of the same landscape. If managed well,
this area presents significant opportunity for sustainable development that could bring economic
gains to South Sudan and Ethiopia, whilst protecting the countries’ natural endowments.
Boma National Park (some 4,000,000 ha; 400-1800
masl) and the adjacent Boma hills are located in the
south-east of South Sudan close to the Ethiopian
border, south-east of the town of Pibor Post. It lies
between the rivers Kangen to the west and Oboth in
the north-east and from the Kurun River and the provincial boundary in the south to the Guom swamps
in the north. Two-thirds of the park is flat flood-plain,
punctuated by a number of isolated hills, rising to
undulating terrain in the east to reach the Boma plateau at c.1,100 m. In the south-east the Boma hills
rise above the plateau and are drained eastwards
into the Oboth and Akobo rivers and thence, eventually, into the Guom swamps. The western part of
the park drains into the Kangen River. The western
plains support open grassland of a variety of species while the eastern parts are covered with woodland. In patches around the isolated hills are areas of
dense thicket dominated variously by Ziziphus spp.,
Acacia seyal, A. zanzibarica, A. drepanalobium and
A. fistula, while there are small areas of evergreen
forest on the western slopes of the Boma hills. The
site is located a little way south of Gambella National Park in Ethiopia. Key biodiversity includes a
variety of bird species characteristic of the Sudan–
Guinea Savanna biome, some four of them unique
to the area. Non-bird biodiversity include: up to one
million Kobus kob leucotis (whit-eared kob) that migrate through the park annually. There are also other
mammals of global conservation interest reside.
The Gambela Natinal Park (577,411ha; 1020 mm;
407-580masl) of Southwestern Ethiopia (Gambella
Regional State) was established in 1973 primarily
to protect two species of endangered wetland antelopes: the White-eared Kob and the Nile Lechwe unique to the habitats. Other wildlife include
populations of elephant, African Buffalo, lion, roan
antelope, tiang, Lelwel Hartebeest, olive baboon,
and guereza monkey. Several birds only found in
this area include the shoebill stork, the Long-tailed
Paradise Whydah and the Red-throated and Green
Bee-eaters. The general landscape is flat but there
are also areas of raised ground that support deciduous woodlands and grasslands. There are extensive seasonally and permanently inundated grasslands forming valuable wetlands. Grass species can
reach 2-3 meters in height. Other important habitats include the river edges and their cut-off lakes.
Gambella teems with a wide variety of wildlife – the
most common are Buffalo, Giraffe,Taing (Topi), Waterbuck, Roan Antelope, White-eared Kob, Nile
Lechwe, Burchell’s Zebra, Bushbuck, Reedbuck,
Warthog and Elephant. The rivers host healthy populations of Hippopotamus and Nile Crocodiles. The
park has at least 300 bird species of which 11 are
Sudan-Guinea Biome species. Nile perch weighing
up to 100 kg have been caught from the Baro River.
The Gambella Park is IUCN Category II. The park
contains 75 endemic animal species (56 mammals;
17 amphibians; 2 birds) of which some 20 are under various categories of threats (2 endangered, 4
vulnerable, 14 near threatened i.e. are conservation
dependent for continued existence)
The Gambella National park, like its twin, the Boma,
on the South Sudanese side, is threatened by development – particularly the development of extensive commercial agriculture and encroachment.
As discussed above, conserving these critical
habitats- maintaining their ecosystem integrity and
healthy functioning and sustaining biodiversity – is
smart not only in the conservation sense, but also in
the economic sense too. Sustainable eco-tourism
of well managed parks that cross boundaries – so
called peace parks – such as the one between Peru
and Ecuador for example, is a big money maker,
able to support local communities, sometimes in a
significantly better way than what they would get by
mining the resources themselves.
To conclude: Conserving and as needed preserving
Eastern Nile biodiversity and ecosystems should be
part and parcel of good water resources development. It is smart. It is sustainable. It is responsible.
By Wubalem Fekade, Ph.D, Head, Social Development and
Communication and Akewak Yadeta, communication expert
23
Nile-Flow
Conversations
“Conversations” is a section dedicated to featuring ENTRO professionals – who they are,
what they do and theirthoughts on how their work contributes to Eastern Nile Cooperation!
This Issue features incoming Executive Director of ENTRO Fekahmed Negash
Q. Please tell us a little about yourself
My name is Fekahmed Negash Nuru. I was born
and grew up in a small village, Daletti, at the outskirt
of Western Addis Ababa. I went to Medresetal Daletti primary school in my village and joined Sebetta
Comprehensive Secondary High School, in Sebetta
town. After completing my secondary education, I
was admitted to Haromaya University, then Alemaya
College of Agriculture under Addis Ababa University
and which was latter elevated to Alemaya University
of Agriculture, located about 515km in Eastern Ethiopia. Here I received my first degree in Agriculture.
This period also marked my first long trip away from
my locality.
After working for six years in a Government Organization, I went on a scholarship to UK to study for my
second degree at Cranfield University, Silsoe College where I did my Masters in Land and Water Resources Management.
Currently I am living in the same locality where I grew
up, about 22km from central Addis. I am married.
I have interest in social activities among the community in my locality. I spend part of my free time,
whenever I get some, reading, and doing sports running, biking, and sometimes volleyball and foot
ball playing. For the last three years I have attended
the annual Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa in
10, 000-meter and 7 000-meter events. I am not a
great athlete but I still can cross the lines in 55 minutes and 38 minutes respectively.
I follow news and other current affairs as frequently
as I can. I feel lost when I am not in a position to
get access to information. I like engage in discussion and debate on a number of issues I believe in.
I value honesty, transparency and punctuality. The
contrary is also true.
Q. Where did you start work? How long have you
been in the water sector? How did you get into the
water sector since your background is in agriculture?
After obtaining my first degree in Haromaya University, I was assigned to work as a Junior Agricultural Specialist in the Ethiopian Valleys Development
Studies Authority, which was mandated to undertake the preparation of River Basin Integrated Development Master Plans and other studies and also
design of irrigation, hydropower and water supply
projects. The River Basin Master Plans incorporate
24
all natural, social, economic, and environmental issues in an integrated manner and this period marked
my transition to the water sector.
Q. In what capacities and responsibilities did you work?
After coming back from UK, I joined the then Ministry of Water Resources, currently the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy where I worked in various
capacities till end of July 2014. My work experience
and career have all been one way or the other, within
the water sector. I started my career as a junior agricultural specialist in the Ethiopian Valleys Development Studies Authority and then progressively rose
to a level of specialist, senior specialist, team leader,
project coordinator, department head and Director.
During my tenure as Specialist and then as Head
of the Master Plan Preparation Studies and implementation supervision department and as Director
for the Basin Administration Directorate, I had the
opportunity to work in and administer almost all basins of Ethiopia. As Coordinator of the Institutional
Setup Studies of the Ethiopian Nile (Abbay) Basin
project, I participated in the studies and design of
the institutional arrangement for Basin Management
in the Ethiopian water sector which has led to the
establishment and operationalization of three Basin
Authorities so far, and to the design of five more, a
work in progress. Through the implementation of the
Tana & Beles Integrated Water Resources Development Project, where I served as Coordinator for over
five years, it was possible to practically apply the
principles of IWRM on the ground, and to pilot three
strategic initiatives of the Government of Ethiopia
i.e. the Growth Corridor, the Basin Management and
Water Sector related Watershed Management on
the ground.
Conversations
Q. How did you get involved in transboundary waters? How did you get “into” the Nile?
Most basins of Ethiopia are transboundary in nature. My involvements in the administration of these
Ethiopian basins, including those that flow into the
Nile are part of my connection to the management
of Transboundary Rivers. My assignment as a Director for Boundary and Transboundary Rivers Affairs
Directorate in the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and
Energy facilitated my full involvement in this issue.
Q. How does transboundary water resources management differ from national one? What are the
unique attributes?
Compared to the management of national basins,
transboundary water resources management is
much more complex. Management of national basins (planning, development and administration)
deals with water resources within the national territorial jurisdictions in accordance with the policies,
strategies, laws and priority of the country and the
federal states (National States). Transboundary Water Resources Management, on the other hand, is
about managing water resources across the territory
of more than one sovereign state with varying laws,
institutions, policies, regulations and often conflicting interests and priorities which requires reconciling differences, policies, laws and institutions for the
common benefit of the population of the basin. The
spatial domain for national basins is a smaller hydrologic unit compared to basin-wide transboundary water resources planning and management.
The relationship among countries sharing a common
transboundary water resources is, in most cases,
much more complex not only in the hydrologic sense
but also in the social and political sense, colored by
legacies of history, geography, geo-politics, culture,
etc. No wonder these relationships are often characterized by mistrust and often conflict. Lack of transparency and absence of exchange of hydro-meteorological data and information is common.
It is often the case that national water resources development on Transboundary Rivers invokes anxiety
and worry in the other riparian countries and when
concern is mismanaged, it can lead to unnecessary
confrontation and bitterness. But as the history of
transboundary waters clearly demonstrates, countries ultimately choose to cooperate, initial uncertainties even hostilities notwithstanding. Even countries that are otherwise in war footing or in armed
hostilities opt for dialogue and build common institutions to manage their shared waters (India-Pakistan,
Israel-Jordan, etc.), To me the keys to lasting transboundary cooperation are: 1. transparent, if you like
demonstrable, honesty and earnestness; genuine
concern for the plight and concerns and needs of
the other 2. Being very rational, fact based, disci-
plined and willing to bend to the dictates of good
science. The latter requires riparian countries to engage in honest discussion, not least with their own
citizens [for example about the state of the shared
resource; about trends in water demand, utilization
and availability] and to set the right expectations.
When these conditions are met, it almost automatically follows that huge opportunities for cooperative
development; for efficiency; for broader cooperation and win-win outcomes arise. It then becomes
clear that the cost of non-cooperation is much
higher than cooperation, for competitive, irrational
management-development can only lead to wasteful utilization of an increasingly scarce and valuable
resource – water!.
Q. How did you get interested in the position of
ENTRO ED? Did you have any working relationship
with ENSAP/ENTRO/NBI?
I was first involved in NBI/ENSAP when I was summoned as a backup technical expert to identify IDEN
projects for Ethiopia. This was followed by membership of Working Group for Eastern Nile Watershed
Management Project (ENSAP), Task Force for Project
Planning and Management Component of WRPMP
(SVP), Steering Committee Chair for WRPMP (SVP),
Steering Committee member for Eastern Nile Irrigation and Drainage Project (ENSAP), Technical Committee member for Joint Multipurpose Project (EN-
“
The relationship among countries
sharing a common transboundary
water resources is, in most cases,
much more complex not only in the
hydrologic sense but also in the
social and political sense, colored
by legacies of history, geography,
geo-politics, culture, etc.
“
TRO). I also served as member of Technical Advisory
Committee (TAC) of NBI, Eastern Nile Subsidiary
Action Program Team (ENSAPT) and Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program Technical Advisory Committee (NELTAC) for Ethiopia. It is these
engagements and experiences that elucidated and
implanted in me the critical importance of cooperation in the sustainable management of transboundary waters for the benefit of the people, the river,
good neighborliness, peace and security.
As member of governance of the three NBI centers, I came to understand that the contribution of
25
Nile-Flow
the presence of strong, transparent and trusted institution with full sense of ownership by the countries to the cooperation process is unparalleled. The
sensitivity and complexity of transboundary water
management in the Nile Basin in general and that
of Eastern Nile in particular makes the issue full of
challenges that requires a cautious approach. Properly handled, there are ample opportunities within
the sub-basin that can lead to everlasting cooperation, prosperity and peace and security.
The historical relationship between the countries
of the Eastern Nile was full of mistrust and conflicting interest. Well established perceptions and
assertions complicate the already fragile cooperative sprites between the countries. The absence of
an agreed upon institutional and legal framework
among the countries of the Eastern Nile is additional
challenge to the management of the transboundary
water resources.
Q. What is your management philosophy? What do
you expect from your staff? What do you want your
staff to expect from you?
My management philosophy is to create a convenient and amicable working environment for the staff
of ENTRO and appropriate forum for the Governance so as to enable the institution deliver results
that can meet the expectation of the countries. This
can be achieved through transparency, empowerment and delegation, creation of sense of urgency
and ownership, encouragement and rewarding, patience and accommodativeness.
Q. Now that you have been a few months in your
position, how was the warm up? How do you find
the place and your colleagues?
Since my arrival the ENTRO colleagues have been
doing their best to familiarize me with the system.
I found all staff very supportive and enthusiastic to
the new management team. The presence of such
highly experienced and competent staff is the biggest asset of the institution. With full support from
the senior management team and creation of favorable working conditions, the staff has the capacity to
deliver the required results.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes? What do you
expect to achieve during your tenure? When, after
26
three years, you look back, and you “say I left the
place, the institution in a better shape than I got it”..
What are your yardsticks to make such an evaluation?
I will be serving ENTRO over a period of three years.
I started my assignment as ENTRO was emerging from a four-year of governance vacuum; when
its performance has-been severely affected by this
and other challenges posed by the non participation of some member states. Currently ENTRO is
facing financial difficulty due to the closing of NBTF,
the main source of finance for funding projects and
programs. At the end of my tenure, I wish to see
a vibrant, competent and trusted ENTRO, that is
financially sustainable and that is delivering results
i.e. sound, cooperative, bankable investment projects that cumulatively contribute significantly to lifting the Eastern Nile basin population out of poverty,
while protecting and ensuring the sustainability of
the river, associated ecosystems and biodiversity
hotspots and assets.
Thank you for your time. Let me wish you the best and
productive years of your tenure!
By Wubalem Fekade, Hd. SDCU.
News and Events
Staff News
ENTRO pays tribute to departing
staff
ENTRO hosted a farewell party in honor of
the departing Senior
Operations
Officer,
Salah Shazali (Phd)
and senior water resources planner, Yosif
Ibrahim (PhD).
Dr. Salah Shazali has
been one of the longest serving ENTRO
staff. He established
the Social Development Office, eventually moved to Entebe up
Salah Shazali (Phd)
on placement by UNOPS in Nile Sec as Confidence Building and Stakeholder Involvement (CBSI) project lead specialist.
When the CBSI closed, Dr Salah returned to ENTRO
and served as Institutional Strengthening Project
coordinator, senior operation Officer, and strategic
planner until December, 2014 when he resigned.
Dr. Yosif Ibrahim was appointed head of water resources planning unit in October, 2009 and subsequently served as Officer in Charge (OIC). Dr Yosif
has played key role in establishing the water resources planning unit and various projects including
the internship program.
Both Drs Salah and
Yosif will be greatly
missed. They have left
lasting mark in ENTRO
through their dedication and contribution to
EN Cooperation.
Nile-flow, in its forthcoming edition will feature them in “Conversations” column.
Yosif Ibrahim (PhD)
By Wubalem Fekade, Ph.D, Head, Social Development and
Communication and Akewak Yadeta, communication expert
Did you know?
Water footprint – The water footprint is an indicator of freshwater use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of
a consumer or producer.
The Water Footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater appropriated to produce the product, taking into account the volumes of water consumed and polluted in the
different steps of the supply chain.
In order to get 1 kg of final cotton textile, one
requires 11,000 liters of water (as a global
average). Thus when we have a shirt with a
weight of 250 gram, this shirt costs 2700 liters
It costs about 21,000 liters of water to produce
1 kg of roasted coffee. For a standard cup of
coffee we require 7 gram of roasted coffee, so
that a cup of coffee costs 140 liters of water.
Source: Hoekstra, A.Y., Chapagain, A.K., Aldaya, M.M. and Mekonnen, M.M. (2011) The water footprint assessment manual: Setting the
global standard, Earthscan, London, UK. Pages 3, 187, 189,
27
Nile-Flow
IN MEMORIAM
ENTRO remembers, Mr Tesfaye Gudeta, who suddenly separated from ENTRO on October 27, 2014.
Mr Tesfaye Gudeta Rorro was born on August 16, 1954
in Wollega, Oromia Regional National State, FDRE.
He obtained his Diploma in Accounting, 1986, Asmara University; graduated with BA in Accounting in
1997, Addis Ababa University; and graduated with
MBA in Finance from Sikkim Manipal University in
December 2010.
After graduating with Diploma in Accounting, he
joined Kaliti Metal Factory in Addis Ababa as Accounting Clerk. He progressed to Junior Cost Accountant and thence to Junior Accountant level. In
December 1993, he joined the then Ministry of Finance, Credit & Investment Department as a Senior
Expert, on-lending. In May 1995 he joined Dinsho
Private Limited Company as Head of Finance Department.
Mr Tesfaye was one of the significant figures in the
history or Micro Finance industry in Ethiopia. In September 1995 he joined Oromia Rural Credit and Saving scheme Development Project as a Financial &
Credit Officer. During his stay with the project, he
worked on legal requirements, policy, and other issues which culminated in the establishment of Oromia Credit & Saving Share Company. He then prepared the financial manual & training manual, and
developed organizational structure. In August 1997
he became the Finance Department Head of the
new Company. In February 2000 he joined Catholic
Relief Services, Ethiopia Program where he continued working on handling preparatory work for the
formation of another Micro Finance Institution. He
also prepared a training Manual on Micro Finance
evolution, development, methodologies, and Impact
Assessment. In April 2001, he become the General
Manager of Gasha Micro-Financing Share
Company and worked till February 28, 2002 providing leadership to the Company.
He then went to the consultancy sector. He worked
as an Associate Consultant with ITAB Consult PLC
from March 1 to September 30, 2002. He then
worked as freelance consultant till March 2003, the
day he joined the Ethiopian Civil Service College as
28
a Projects Finance
Officer.
In August 11, 2005,
Mr Tesfaye joined
ENTRO as short term
consultant in the Finance Office. He was
given the post of Financial Assistant on
November 11, 2005.
On October 1, 2008,
he was promoted to
Finance Officer Position where he worked
to the final day in
ENTRO and in this
world.
In his work Mr Tesfaye was professional, honest, committed and friendly.
In his social life, Mr
Tesfaye was so humorous with infinite
Knowledge of Ethiopian culture, sayings, stories, and
dances too. Events
and tea breaks at
ENTRO were colorful
when Mr Tesfaye was
around.
Mr Tesfaye passed
away unexpectedly in the evening
of October 27, 2014
in his house. ENTRO
prays to God for him
to take care and pro tect him and remember all the beautiful
experiences we had next to TG, as we used to call
him.
Mr Tesfaye is survived by his wife and five children,
three girls and two boys.
By Tesfaye Teferi (FCCA, ACMA), Regional Finance and
administration head
Eastern Nile Environment at a glance
SHOEBILL
(Balaeniceps rex)
These large stork-like birds inhabit the Eastern Nile’s swamps and marshes. Shoebills
particularly like poorly oxygenated shallow
water. According to BirdLife International
Showbills is classified as Vulnerable with the
main threats being habitat destruction, disturbance and hunting. The shoebill is nonmigratory with limited seasonal movements
due to habitat changes, food availability
and disturbance by humans. Steps are being taken in South Sudan to understand the
population better and improve the status of
protected areas.
For more information on the shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) and conservation efforts,
please visit (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3808 and http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Shoebill)
Highlight Online Water Resources
The internet has become an increasingly important source of information. A diverse range of online re-sources on
water, infrastructure and the environment can provide useful tools for water professionals and others interested in
water-related teaching materials, scientific research findings, the sharing of best (and worst) practices from the field,
and much more. In this issue of Nile-Flow News letter we would like to share two online resources with you. Send
an email to the editor at w.fekade@nilebasin.org if you wish to share any of the websites, blogs, twitter streams,
networks or communities with our readers.
TheWaterChannel.tv
Circle of Blue
www.thewaterchannel.tv is an online video channel
on water. The channel makes a wide range of video
material available for a large public to create awareness and encourage de-bate. The website contains
videos ranging from instructional videos to Public
Service Announcements from various sources. The
footage is presented in different categories, including climate change, agriculture and sanitation & hygiene, among others. The website caters to a large
audience, including educators, policy makers, highschool and university students, media professionals,
companies and organizations with an interest or active involvement in water issues.
Source: www.thewaterchannel.tv
Circle of Blue is an international network of leading
journalists, scientists and communications design
experts that reports and presents the information
necessary to respond to the global freshwater crisis.
It is a non-profit affiliate of the Pacific Institute. Circle
of Blue reports and collects information and data,
and presents it in coherent, accessible and connected forms. The website provides a highly visible forum for response, and through communications design, extends awareness into action. Circle of Blue’s
provides a hub for data visualization, aggregation,
and integration.
Source: www.circleofblue.org
29
Nile-Flow
ENTRO Core Values Are RIGHT:
ENTRO Vision:
A credible EN institution
fostering sustainable
transboundary cooperative
water resource management
and development and
promoting regional
integration.
Mission:
We work for the shared benefits of cooperation
Regional Orientation, Focus on People & Environment
We are committed to regional cooperation in all our activities and relationships
among ourselves and with our partners. We are committed to work for the benefit of the people and the environment of the EN countries.
Initiative, Dynamism and Creativity
As a team and as individuals, we take initiative and embrace new ideas for the
enhancement of both our performance and our working environment. We strive
for creativity to set the example and pace for others.
Gender Balance, Equity and Respect Diversity
In all our work and interactions, we give equal opportunities for both genders
and seek gender balance. We also do not discriminate any individuals because
of their beliefs or physical appearance. We emphasize mutual respect for individuals, recognition of their contributions, and their rights to equity in benefit
sharing.
Honesty, Excellence and Professionalism
We perform all our duties in a spirit of trust, transparency and honesty.
We are committed to excellence and professionalism in all our work.
We do not compromise on quality and accountability.
Teamwork, Participation and Partnership
Eastern Nile Technical
Regional Office
Dessie Road
P.O.Box 27173-1000
Tel: +251 116 46 1130/32
Fax: +251 116 45 94 07
Email: entro@nilebasin.org
http://ensap.nilebasin.org
Photo: Impala communication
ENTRO’s Headquarter
Addis Ababa –Ethiopia
We choose to work in teams with our colleagues at ENTRO and with ENTRO’s
owners and partners. We also seek to expand and intensify participation of nongovernmental stakeholders, particularly from EN civil society and private sector.
We believe through participation and partnership we would achieve synergies
otherwise lost. We hold ourselves individually and collectively accountable in
achieving our commonly shared objectives
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent
those of NBI, its Member States, or Development Partners
32

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