{"id":2978,"date":"2019-06-07T07:33:11","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T07:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:20","slug":"2978-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/06\/07\/2978-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worlds Free- flowing Rivers Are Under A Threat and Here is Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rivers are becoming more and more fragmented as they succumb to the impacts of human development: roads, levees, and dykes transecting floodplains; dams constructed to generate electricity; water diverted for drinking and agriculture. Combine these, and the world is losing its free-flowing rivers at a dizzying pace. According to the World Wildlife Fund Report 2019, only a third<\/a> of the world longest rivers are free-flowing. River Nile, the longest river in Africa, falls victim of the human developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nforesee food and water security, the Nile Basin Initiative was established in\n1999- an intergovernmental partnership of Nile Basin countries- Egypt, Eritrea,\nKenya, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda,\nBurundi, and Tanzania. It was to provide ease in consultation and offer\nco-ordination to the basin states. In addition, it was to offer a sustainable\ndevelopment and the sustainability of the water resource to the benefit of all\nmember States. This initiative recently celebrated its two-decade milestone\nsince its establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthird of Africa\u2019s population depends on the Nile\nbasin<\/a>. Farming and fisheries have managed to offer food\nsecurity as a result of the river Nile. Most of the Nile basin countries depend\non agriculture for consumption and economic growth. Coffee business in Uganda\nplays a crucial role in the development of the country\u2019s economy but it has\nbeen hit hard by climate change. However, water from the Nile Basin cannot\nserve as an alternative for irrigation anymore. The historical river is drying\nout. The Biodiversity resource fading away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aswan Dam: image source|nilecruised.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The\nAswan<\/a>\nhigh dam constructed in 1970, draws its water from Nile river. Constructed to\nease on floods, act as a silt deposit, and serve as a storage during the dry\nseasons in Egypt- served as an assurance of the availability of water. The dam\nis now draining river Nile. The basin is at its lowest level just 52years\nlater.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nadd to the menace, most of the Nile basin Countries are still sourcing water\nfrom the Nile basin to help increase the electricity supply. One such project\nincludes the construction of the Merowe dam in the South Sudan in 2009. The dam\nwas meant to offer a solution to the shortage of electricity in the country.\nHigh turbines source water from the river Nile. A reservoir behind the dam\nresulted in a humanitarian crisis with over 50,000 Sudanese left homeless as\nvillages submerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nthe rise of hydroelectric power plants sourcing water from the Nile, Uganda joins\nthe wagon. Close to the outlet from Lake Victoria, two hydroelectric power\nstations exist. Combined however, they do not offer enough electricity for the\never growing population leading to the construction of more dams such as\nBujagali and Kiira dam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bujagali Dam in Uganda. photo| SN Power<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Repercussions-Lake Victoria has seen its water drop gradually.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers who depend on fish farming from Lake Victoria are already affected as climate change impacts the fisheries. Changes in temperature can alter the water levels hence causing a mix in regimes and the productivity of fish. In Kenya- Kisumu County, famous for its culinary fish dishes has seen a drop in fish<\/a> production. Variability in rainfall has caused the lake water level to drop.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\naddition, Global warming poses a threat to the renowned river. High temperatures\nthat characterize its basin have resulted to increased precipitation. Intrusion\nof salt water downstream as the sea level rises is likely to affect the\navailability of fresh water in the delta areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\neffects could intensify the dependency on irrigation by Egypt as it gets drier\nand warmer as human demands for water-intensive agriculture and water alone\nincrease. As we celebrate the milestones achieved from the Nile basin\ninitiative establishment it is wise to consider the achievements in terms of\nsustainability. The short term may seem fruitful, but the long term effect remains\na major threat, if measures are not put in place. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rivers are becoming more and more fragmented as they succumb to the impacts of human development: roads, levees, and dykes transecting floodplains; dams constructed to generate electricity; water diverted for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-responsibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}