Marina Ottaway, Woodrow Wilson Center, will deliver a lecture on the Nile River Basin Crisis Lecture Series. The series runs from October 13, 2021 - March 9, 2022.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM (Pacific Time)
Webinar
Abstract:
The British colonialists established what developed into a Nile empire, after they in the 1880s decided, during a period of about fifteen years, to occupy first Egypt, and then what should become Uganda and Kenya and Sudan and South Sudan. With the coming of the period of African independence and the demise of colonialism, there emerged a need to develop a regime of state-state relationships in the Nile Basin. Today, one of the primary unresolved issues is, how should the waters of the Nile be governed? Should all the states that share Nile waters be able to make independent decisions relating to the use of waters and tributaries in their domain? Should Egypt continue to claim its absolute ownership of the Nile, or should there be an independent institution for collective management of the Nile? What if tensions and conflicts among constituent states emerge? This presentation discusses these issues.
Bio:
Dr. Marina Ottaway is a Middle East Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She works on issues of political transformation in the Middle East and Gulf security. Before joining the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ottaway carried out research in Africa and in the Middle East for many years and taught at Addis Ababa University, the University of Zambia, the American University in Cairo, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Her publications Include: Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution, 2009, Algeria: The Politics of Socialist Revolution, 1970, and Soviet and American Influence in the Horn of Africa, 1982.
About the Series:
The
UCLA African Studies Center and Samueli School of Engineering are pleased to
announce a 10-part webinar series on the Nile River Basin crisis. Ethiopia has
recently begun to fill its newly-built Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
on the Blue Nile River; it now needs to become fully operational. However, a
crisis has emerged involving disagreement between Ethiopia and downstream
countries, Egypt and Sudan, on the sharing of the Nile waters, the dam filling
period, and water allocation during and after filling the dam. There is an
urgent need to consider the formation of a solution to the resulting tensions
among the states that depend on the water resource of the Nile River. This
webinar series will bring together scholars and practitioners to present
research and policy papers on various aspects of this issue, and carefully
consider alternative solutions to the Nile River dispute.
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Schedule of Online Events
All times are in Pacific Time (i.e. Local time in California).
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October 13
(7:00 – 8:30 am PDT)
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The Nile River from Colonial to the Immediate Post-Colonial Era
Tereje Tvedt, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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October 27
(8:00 – 9:30 am PDT)
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Post-Colonial Interstate Relations in the Nile Basin
Marina Ottaway, Ph.D., Middle East Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center
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November 10
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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Interstate Security Issues in the Nile Basin after GERD
William Davison, Senior Analyst, Ethiopia, International Crisis Group
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November 23
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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Current Uses of the Nile Water, and Impacts of GERD Dam
Yohannes Gebretsadik, Ph.D., Regional Water Resources Analyst, Nile Basin Initiative
Hani Sewilam, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Engineering Hydrology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Ageel Bushara, Hydrologist, Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants, Saudi Arabia
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December 8
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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The Nile flows towards the Red Sea and not the Mediterranean
Ana Elisa Cascão, Ph.D., Independent Consultant and Researcher
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January 12
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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The Role of Nile Water Resources in the Economic Development of Egypt and Ethiopia and the Potential Impacts of the GERD Filling Policies
Kenneth Strzepek, Climate, Water and Food Specialist, MIT Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab; Research Scientist, MIT Center for Global Change Science; Visiting Fellow, Martin School, University of Oxford; Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado, Boulder
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January 26
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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The GERD Dam Filling Impact and Mitigation Strategies
Kevin Wheeler, Ph.D., Oxford Martin Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
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February 9
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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Nile Basin Reservoir Management and Operation Tools
Mohammed Basheer, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, U.K.
Hisham Eldardiry, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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February 23
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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Successful River Basin Agreements in Other Basins Similar to the Nile
Susanne Schmeier, LLM, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Water Law and Diplomacy, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
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March 9
(8:00 – 9:30 am PST)
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Towards Long-term Solutions and Management Options for the Nile States
John Mbaku, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Economics, Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
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Registration using the link above in the text or at https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mAxQBtURT6yIl_DXFbgd-w
Cost : Free webinar
African Studies Center323-335-9965
africa@international.ucla.edu www.international.ucla.edu/africa
Sponsor(s): African Studies Center, Engineering