Scholars have called on Egypt and Sudan to financially support the natural resources conservation works carried out in the Nile Basin.
One of the contributions that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) makes to Sudan is minimizing the recurrent flooding and sedimentation on its hydro-power dams.
And unless countries cooperate in jointly protecting trans-boundary resources, the resources could not be utilized sustainably, the scholars pointed out.
Ethiopia has been working on natural conversation and environmental protection activities on Abay basin for the past 40 years.
Even if the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, are the major beneficiaries of this river, they have no role in the development and conservation of natural resources as well as protection of the environment, they further noted.
Credit: CABI
New research has revealed how an invasion of the alien evergreen tree, Prosopis juliflora seriously diminishes water resources in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, consuming enough of this already scarce resource to irrigate cotton and sugarcane generating some US$ 320 million and US$ 470 million net benefits per year.
A team of Ethiopian, South African and Swiss scientists, including lead author Dr Hailu Shiferaw, Dr Tena Alamirew, and Dr Gete Zeleke from the Water and Land Resource Centre of Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and Dr Sebinasi Dzikiti from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and Dr Urs Schaffner, Head Ecosystems Management, CABI, have been assessing water use of prosopis and its impacts on catchment water budget and rural livelihoods in the dry Afar Region of Ethiopia, since 2015 as part of a long-term collaboration in the framework of the CABI-led Woody Weeds project.