Water Politics in the Nile Basin- Emerging Land Acquisitions and the Hydropolitical Landscape

General

Under the theoretical debate on the dilemmas of common poor resource (CPR) management, the Nile Basin can be considered as a classical example. Hydropolitics in the Nile Basin has been comprehensively studied during the last decades. Issues concerning new land acquisitions are beginning to be researched. Academically, studies merging the two ´fields´ is virgin territory. This research aims to investigate the water and land nexus in the Nile Basin and seeks to understand how the current surge in land acquisitions and investments by foreign countries, sovereign wealth funds and private corporations, as well as domestic investors, will affect transboundary water interaction in the region. The research will identify the key land acquisitions, contractual conditions, type of water (irrigation from the transboundary river, groundwater, rainwater and etc.) and analyse the impact on the regional political stability and development. The significance of the project is a result of its unique contribution to merge the areas of land acquisitions and hydropolitics in the regional level, something that has hitherto not been done. In addition, the study seeks to broaden the theoretical understanding of how CPR dilemmas can be understood. From a policy perspective, the recent political changes in the region and the current impasse in the transboundary agreement in Nile basin call for greater understanding of this new dynamic.