Conclusion: achieving sustainable water management

Throughout my blog, I showed why cutting the Gordian knot of the GERD conflict is challenging. The changing climate conditions, the colonial past, the nationalistic drive in Ethiopia, and inappropriate negotiation techniques all induce hostility. However, I also highlighted that the countries could overcome historical distrust and nationalistic discourse. The prerequisite is to agree on the dam's impact and negotiate a long-term Nile treaty with benefit-sharing mechanisms. However, after extensive readings, I argue participants should move on from focusing on GERD. Most importantly, Egypt needs to accept the hegemony shift and concentrate on reforms in water usage.

The first step in sustainable water management is admitting that the main risk in Egyptian water management is not dams in downstream countries but inefficient measures to address the needs of rapid urbanisation and population increase. The nationalist rhetoric that blames Ethiopia for water issues should be replaced by campaigns that prepare farmers for inevitable adaption. Proper communication about drought management, especially in social media, would be essential to prevent panic around introducing less wasteful water use practices. Campaigns will help sensitise its population with special attention to small farmers and their livelihoods. Simultaneously, decision-makers need to communicate that reforms are required in agriculture as it is responsible for 86% of Egypt's water usage. This awareness-raising will help enhance political will in switching crops, technology and governance

Convincing Egyptian  farmers to more sustainable water usage practices and supporting them with technologies are key measures from the Egyptian government 

Surprisingly, Egypt uses many water highly-water consuming plants like rice. Therefore, some argue that the government should target these low-value water-intensive crops with reductions. However, a more 'human' approach would focus on agriculture's modernisation through technology. There is a wide range of solutions that Egypt has already started, but to feel these efficiency improvements, more time is needed. They had considerable achievements in reusing agricultural drainage water and even domestic sewage for irrigation. Also, this summer, they built 14 new desalination plants for border and coastal cities that helps in easing the overreliance on the Nile river. However, more investment should be in hydraulic research and related subjects to enable efficiency and sustainable river management. For example, supporting solar power would help to increase the spread of energy-intensive desalination techniques.

 New desalination plants in Egypt

Finally, effective governance is critical in the sustainability of water management not only in Egypt but in the whole Basin. Building institutions that can manage water is as important as pipes and dams. Unfortunately, all the Nile countries suffer from political instability like ineffectiveness, corruption, discrimination and oppression that result in ineffective governance. Luo et al. 2020 argue that two primary measures could improve water governance. First, the government should support stakeholders in reducing water waste, like advising on switching to pipes from canals with less evaporation. Second, promote water use efficiency by regulating fertiliser to decrease water pollution and support recycling with water demand tables for plants.

Of course, in all of the sustainable water management measures, sharing best-practice between riparian states would help. Therefore, I argue that politics on the Nile should not be about exercising power or debating water allocation. Instead, it should address the region's water challenges of climate change and overpopulation. As I showed, cooperation is key, and NBI would be a perfect starting point for that.