Water Conflicts in the Middle East: Studying Political Situations with the Nile
Water scarcity is increasingly becoming a focus of international policymaking, due to policymakers awareness that water shortages are likely to occur within the next few decades in certain regions. The Nile River is of particular interest to policymakers due to its history of water scarcity and international policy designed to alleviate tension between the users of Nile water. The use of the Nile River is highly controversial among the ten riparian nations which are heavily dependent or exclusively dependent on its water resources. Countries which draw upon the same source of Nile River water tend to require it for different uses, and this hampers the ability of countries further upstream to draw upon the waters of the Nile. Political, environmental, and ethical conflict over the use of the Nile River has provided a significant body of literature from which to draw in order to invoke a more progressive form of policy. Since the Nile Basin Treaty of 1929, the history of water use in this region illustrates the different strategies which can be put into effect. Both the successes and the failures in this area help to identify policy which can be applied on a wider scale towards international water use. The exploration of Nile River treaties and policies from 1929 can be critically evaluated according to common pool theory (CPT) and bargaining theory (BT) to illustrate successes, failures, and opportunities.
